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Resurrecting the Mighty Mammoth, Cheaply

Posted by timothy on from the when-faster-and-cheaper-are-synonymous dept.

somanyrobots writes with an interesting followup in the New York Times to the earlier-reported substantial reconstruction of the woolly mammoth genome: "Scientists are talking for the first time about the old idea of resurrecting extinct species as if this staple of science fiction is a realistic possibility, saying that a living mammoth could perhaps be regenerated for as little as $10 million. The same technology could be applied to any other extinct species from which one can obtain hair, horn, hooves, fur or feathers, and which went extinct within the last 60,000 years, the effective age limit for DNA." (The Washington Post article linked from the earlier post was much more skeptical, calling such an attempt "still firmly the domain of science fiction." The New York Times article, while describing the process in similar terms, also calls attention to recent advances in sequencing DNA, as well as recoding DNA for cloning.)

12 of 322 comments (clear)

  1. Ahem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Not only can scientists resurrect the mammouth, but timothy has successfully recreated a post from all of two an a half hours ago.

  2. Why not bring them back by pinguwin · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's far from certain that mammoth died out simply from climate change. Take a look at this link: http://packrat.aml.arizona.edu/Journal/v37n1/vartanyan.html Mammoth survived thousands of years beyond what most people think, into historic times (1700 b.c) It was a place that man didn't reach (hmmm...coincidence?), but Wrangel Island was too small to support a large population of them. It seems that wherever man went, large animals encountered "climate change". I don't doubt that climate was an issue, but nor do I doubt that man was either.

  3. Save the dodo, extinct the coelacanth. by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 3, Informative

    What about the Dodo? Any bits left?

    Save the dodo, extinct the coelacanth.

    "If the Universe came to an end every time there was some uncertainty about what had happened in it, it would never have got beyond the first picosecond. And many of course don't. It's like a human body, you see. A few cuts and bruises here and there don't hurt it. Not even major surgery if it's done properly. Paradoxes are just the scar tissue. Time and space heal themselves up around them and people simply remember a version of events which makes as much sense as they require it to make.

    "That isn't to say that if you get involved in a paradox a few things won't strike you as being very odd, but if you've got through life without that already happening to you, then I don't know which Universe you've been living in, but it isn't this one."

    "Well, if that's the case," said Richard, "why were you so fierce about not doing anything to save the dodo?"

    Reg sighed. "You don't understand at all. The dodo wouldn't have died if I hadn't worked so hard to save the coelacanth."

    "The coelacanth? The prehistoric fish? But how could one possibly affect the other?"

    "Ah. Now there you're asking. The complexities of cause and effect defy analysis. Not only is the continuum like a human body, it is also very like a piece of badly put up wallpaper. Push down a bubble somewhere, another one pops up somewhere else. There are no more dodos because of my interference. In the end I imposed the rule on myself because I simply couldn't bear it any more. The only thing that really gets hurt when you try and change time is yourself."

    -- Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Douglas Adams

    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
  4. Re:Harmony never existed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    By "harmonious" you must mean "plans and executes a massive attack on American soil resulting in massive losses of life and property".....

    By all estimates, nuking Japan not only saved countless American lives (the only ones that matter in war) but also likely saved countless Japanese, since they would most likely have fought to the very last man otherwise.

  5. Re:Harmony never existed by roguetrick · · Score: 3, Informative

    Oh yes, Japanese culture was so harmonious before they got nuked. The occupations of Manchuria and Vietnam were happy frolics. Their soldiers just gleefully raped the Nanking Chinese as nature intended.

    Jesus, I don't know if you're deluded or an idiot.

    --
    -The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard
  6. Re:Harmony never existed by E++99 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Tell that to the american indians. They had a pretty harmonious culture.

    You mean the 1,000 nations with cultures based on perpetual warfare with one another, the largest of which established the largest-scale assembly-line operation of human sacrifice in recorded history, and who as a group hunted to extinction almost not only the American species of Mammoths, but nearly all the indigenous mega-fauna in the Americas? Those American Indians?

  7. Re:Harmony never existed by RancidPeanutOil · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, I think it would be difficut to list any civilizations at all that had anything even resembling "harmony with nature." The american indians had a harmonious relationship with nature because nature was kicking their ass, not giving them enough food, killing most of their children, and because their were a million buffalo to every indian - if the population of indians had been powers greater, they would have raped their environment dry the same way the white men did.

    Other people have already rather poetically dismantled your eastern-philosophies view of pre-atomic Japan.

  8. Re:$10,000,000, eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    But the costs of cloning some additional mammoths wouldn't be a full ten million more. In fact, considering the number of embryos needed to get even one successful clone, you probably wouldn't have any additional costs other than implantation in some extra elephants.

  9. Re:$10,000,000, eh? by JRGhaddar · · Score: 5, Informative

    Resurrect the species will take a lot more than just two...Inbreeding probably won't be good for the species.

    But I think everyone is missing the point.. they said anything about 60,000 years ago.... Well that opens the doors for some kick ass revivals. let's not just do a mammoth.

    Here is my short list

    Dire Wold - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dire_Wolf
    Big Wolf

    Diprotodon - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diprotodon
    Big Marsupial

    Smilidon - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smilodon
    Giant Sabre Tooth Tiger Lion Thing

    Haast Eagle - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haast's_Eagle
    Giant Eagle

    Giant Moa - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinornis
    Big Ostrich

    Aepyornis - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aepyornis
    Even Bigger Ostrich

    Arctodus_simus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctodus_simus
    GIANT BEAR - (Don't Tell Colbert)
    43% bigger than Grizzly

    For a pretty comprehensive list of what might be available see:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pleistocene_extinctions

  10. It depends by dbIII · · Score: 2, Informative
    As seen with some breeds of dogs and pet hamsters you can get a large healthy population from a very small number of ancestors if there are few genetic defects in those ancestors. I've heard all the domesticated hamsters came from a single breeding pair.

    However as seen with other breeds of dogs there can be increasing problems with inbreeding if there are serious genetic defects in the ancestors.

  11. Re:$10,000,000, eh? by Antique+Geekmeister · · Score: 2, Informative

    Have you ever seen an elephant give _birth_? That's scary enough. The mother steps on the newboard to help it start breathing.

  12. Re:Khm... by psychicninja · · Score: 2, Informative

    ...Bananamammoth...

    This is the best band name I've heard in a long time!