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Modern Day Noah's Ark Dying
hype7 writes "The Sydney Morning Herald is running a story about the Monash Institute of Reproduction and Development's Gene Bank, which appears to be running out of funding. It seems a terrible shame, because the Bank has managed to accumulate thousands of Australian and foreign endangered species; a kind of modern day Noah's Ark. At the moment it's in limbo, using funds diverted from other projects to keep it in ER, but the prospects aren't looking good."
[shakes head] Sounds like the government there really has it's priorities straight.
I mean, wouldn't even a tenth of the money spent on "protecting" the morality of the Australian websurfing public be better served by setting a good example and protecting the future of the planet?
"It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
This is the kind of thing that would lead to great things, if people continued support for it.
Would anyone please post information, if they know, pertaining to how we can donate to this museum? I think that many of us would like it.
"The community don't seem to care really deeply about biodiversity because they are not facing it every day. But it's a big concern among naturalists, conservationists and scientists. There's a decimation of these species."
The above quote was from the actual article. Their community doesn't care, for whatever reasons. Maybe they don't understand, maybe they don't know, maybe they're just shallow. But I think some of us may care.
We can use our computer skills to volunteer for them, maybe. Save them some money on hiring a designer for their web presence, making their databases more efficient, etc. This is what we're here for. Show the world that "hackers" do more good than harm.
PayPal $$ if you sign up for free offers (eBay, cred cards, e
Or no doubt some biotech company might be willing to do so in return for rights to the contents and any future derivatives thereof...
Of course these sorts of prospects usually spur native donors and the project is thus "rescued" but it is sad that things come to such a crisis, particularly when the Australian fauna (and flora) are unique in the world.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
Seems to me the major expense in a program such as this is the long-term storage of the 'data' - and there doesn't look like there's an easy way over that obstacle.
I wonder, however, given the current thrust of the genome mapping projects around the globe if this issue can become irrelevant. With the ability to codify the genes in a species comes the ability to store the information in a much less expensive manner - and for much longer periods of time. Simply back it up to tape!
I know it's a fairly far off vision, but hey...
Culture is more than commerce
What is the point of saving a species in a test tube? The planet is only getting worse. if we cannot find a way to co-exist with nature NOW I doubt we ever will.
.. thats over 10 New York city blocks / second .. burned to the ground. We dump sewage, filth and pesticides into our fresh water .. nature is supposed to survive on this while we wont go near it without chlorinating it / filtering it.
... only a strong global commitment to changing our (evil) ways will make a difference ... and then a Modern Day Noah's Ark won't be necessary.
I read in todays paper that a forest area the size of Poland is lost each year
Storing genes in test tubes will not save Endangered Species
Is it the natural order of things for man to come along, industrialize, and cause extinction of thousands of species?
Is it the natural order of things for when man has technological enough assets to save genetic material to resurrect long gone species?
Or since it is mans fault for the extinction of a diverse number of animals is it our responsibility to have facilities such as this?
The above post is an editorial, the poster cannot and will not be held responsible for all or in part for it's contents
As unfortunate a statement as it may be about today's society, I believe that one the chief hindrances in this extremely worthy cause finding adequate funding is its poor public image.
Take for example the WWF (World Wildlife Fund). With their people-friendly, Panda Logo, they manage to secure millions of dollars of funding on an annual basis. Thanks in no small part to having this cute & cuddly, little monster as their mascot, the organization has been able to save numerous lesser-known and less adorable species from total extinction.
Alternatively, the Monash Institute of Reproduction and Development's Gene Bank, lists the far less lovable Northern Hairy-Nosed Wombat as a "key project"...
Should the fact that the northern hairy-nosed wombat does not closely resemble the fury little teddy bears we all grew up loving make it any less worthwhile in saving - of course not. Does it make it a more difficult sell to the public and subsequently corporations when attempting to secure research funding - what do you think...
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. -- Benjamin Franklin
With such an analogy to the Catholic religion, they might want to contact Noah's sole sponsor, or its local branch: The Vatican.
I DO NOT mean to be disrespectful in any way, but I'm pretty sure they still are the wealthiest entity on the Planet, right?
And preserving such richess can only be viewed as a valuable cause.
Just thought I'd mention it.
Cheers.
The premise is totally stupid anyway. You would need to have several dozen dna samples from several different lines of the same species in order to recreate them. Heard of something called in-breeding? If you only took one or two samples of the same species, and tried to re-breed them, within a few generations, there would be so much genetic problems, you should just kill them anyway to get them out of their misery. Don't even bother.
Saving DNA doesn't mean that we're saving the creatures.
Taking DNA samples from creatures on the verge of extinction keeps the doors of research open, which will hopefully lead to breakthroughs in medicine and biology.
If you can't have the animal, having the DNA is probably the next best thing. It's one more piece of the puzzle that we put together to figure out why extinction is happening in the first place.
Yes.
With the advent of genetic engineering, the possibility of a "superstrain" of modified corn, replacing wild variants is quite possible. Think of the genetic code of these variants as building blocks for the engineering projects of the future, and consider the fact that, once gone, they can never be replaced.