Wooly Mammoth to be Brought Back to Life

skavenhorde

skavenhorde

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Science!!!!

woolly mammoth to be brought back to life from cloned bone marrow 'within five years'
  • thigh bone discovered in permafrost soil of siberia
  • contains elusive undamaged genes essential for nucleus transplantation
  • nuclei of elephant's egg cells will be replaced with mammoth's marrow dna
  • embryo will then be planted into elephant womb for gestation

scientists believe it may be possible to clone a woolly mammoth within five years after finding well-preserved bone marrow in a thigh bone recovered from permafrost soil in siberia.

Teams from russia's sakha republic's mammoth museum and japan's kinki university will launch fully-fledged joint research next year aiming to recreate the giant mammal, japan's kyodo news reported from yakutsk, russia.

By replacing the nuclei of egg cells from an elephant with those taken from the mammoth's marrow cells, embryos with mammoth dna can be produced, kyodo said, citing the researchers.
Click to expand...

This is amazing. Really amazing. You can read more here.
 
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They should really think about where it could live before they do it.
Typical scientists. All burning for doing the latest things in research - but never thinking on its implications.
 
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scientists believe it may be possible to clone a woolly mammoth within five years after finding well-preserved bone marrow in a thigh bone recovered from permafrost soil in siberia.
Click to expand...

That sounds insanely cool, but the words that stick out to me are "believe" and "may". In other words, they think it might be possible.

I'll be very surprised if they pull it off, but if they do, it'll be truly incredible.
 
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They've already found incredibly well-preserved mammoths.
 
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There was an National Geographic article about one last year.
Impressive read (and photos), with hints towards humans driving them into extinction, not the climate.
 
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British tabloid?

Oh well, it was a nice story while it lasted. Science fiction becoming science fact and all that.
 
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Alrik Fassbauer said:
They should really think about where it could live before they do it.
Typical scientists. All burning for doing the latest things in research - but never thinking on its implications.
Click to expand...

Yup there have been several Sci Fi movies exploring this one haven't there? Starting with BladeRunner...
 
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What!!! Don't tell me you didn't know that! ;)
 
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JDR13 said:
That sounds insanely cool, but the words that stick out to me are "believe" and "may". In other words, they think it might be possible.

I'll be very surprised if they pull it off, but if they do, it'll be truly incredible.
Click to expand...

I think finding nuclei with sufficiently undamaged DNA will be extremely difficult, considering the 10000 years and the lack of optimal whole body freezing techniques back then (which we don't have even today).

There's also the question of extra nuclear DNA, which is not cloned, and finding suitable surrogate mothers, even if they - in this case - both are "elephants".

Attempts at cloning extinct species under optimal conditions: recently extinct, DNA probably stored properly, and using eggs from very closely related (sub)species haven't been successful. (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090210-bucardo-clone.html).

I think we'll need slightly more than 5 years.

EDIT: I suppose Alrik is referring to the same Nat Geo article.
 
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Humans - what a bizarre species we are. I read recently that scientists are trialing the release of genetically modified female mosquitoes which give birth to flightless young (with no wings I assume - or just super lazy perhaps) in the hope that they'll be able to reduce their numbers. I guess the resulting 'walkers' will find it difficult to get laid?

What a diabolical plan!
 
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Somehow that article doesn't offer any more info then the one from last January.
I think it's just a rehash of old news seeing as the timeline is still 5 yrs
 
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