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Russian Scientists Say They'll Clone a Mammoth Within 5 Years
Many scientists (mainly Japanese and Russian) have dreamed of cloning a mammoth over the years. When the mammoth genome was partially reconstructed in 2008, that dream seemed a bit closer. Besides the millions of dollars needed for such a project, the biggest hurdle was the lack of a good sample of mammoth DNA. That hurdle has now been cleared, thanks to the discovery of well-preserved bone marrow in a mammoth thigh bone. Russian scientist Semyon Grigoriev, acting director of the Sakha Republic's mammoth museum, and colleagues from Japan's Kinki University say that within 5 years they'll likely have a clone. From the article: "What's been missing is woolly mammoth nuclei with undamaged genes. Scientists have been on a Holy Grail-type search for such pristine nuclei since the late 1990s. Now it sounds like the missing genes may have been found."
Just like Jurassic Park, but colder
What the giants will have to say about that.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
Will have shot it five minutes later...
Pliocene park.
Lets give birth to an Ice Age animal during earths period of global high heat. They couldn't survive the end of the last ice age. So lets bring them to life and stick them in a post/anti-Ice Age environment... Brilliant!
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
...whether someone welcomes our new mammoth overlords.
Now, I really don't want to know WHY they're cloning a mammoth,. . .
In soviet russia, Mammoth clones you and Japanese says sanks!
-- Brought to you by Carl's JR
This is distressing.
We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion.
Maybe the Russian scientists didn't see that documentary.
Sounds like a mammoth project.
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
Well, since anthropomorphic global warming is causing the melting of Greenlands ice sheet, which will then cause an Ice Age in Europe, this seems apropos.
Mr. President we have a Mammoth gap.
Oh, never mind.
Apache guy, Open Source enthusiast, runner
Unless they taste great, why bother?
All of 17(?) of the Soviet Mars probes failed to make it there or failed shortly after arrival.
Wired Mag had their article about this back in September.
I believe this to be an ethical issue that really needs to be thought through before folks go off tinkering with genes. As the article calls out, do we know what the impact to an ecosystem where a species like this is released? What about natural predation? In a broader sense, what is the real value in cloning something that was selectively removed from the environment? Hell we cannot even keep from releasing invasive species to control other species without completely screwing it up. This process does nothing more than allow a scientist to study an animal that doesn't exist by bringing it into existence.
Make sure they use UNIX!
It made more sense...
Right, and we'll have strong AI in 10 years & fusion power in 20 years - as it has always been.
when they clone the Giant Beaver
Mammoths are dumb, If they are going to pick a species to bring back from extinction, they should pick something cooler, like a mermaid or a unicorn or something.
It means they know how it should be done, but not how to actually do it. It the mean time, who wants to invest?
And if not, why not?
I got me a hankerin' for some mammoth shortribs.
YABBA DABBA DOO!
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Jesus would not approve.
God took the mammoths away from us during the flood, so we have no right to bring them back.
Seeing how much people will pay to hunt certain exotic species already, I imagine that you could make terrific money owning your own private mammoth preserve.
Oh, you're not stuck, you're just unable to let go of the onion rings.
Can't wait to roll up to drive thru and order my super sized mammoth wopper with taradactyl fries.
Getting gene information from DNA of living beings is quite difficult and not even close to being perfected. How do they expect to get this information for an extinct animal?
Also what the heck is the point of this? How does this help mankind? These animals are extinct for a reason!
...so Russians can vote for either Putin or for his clone.
OK, why does this sound like a bad idea? Could it be that we can't seem to take care of the animals that aren't extinct? Are those Mammoth shortribs the waitress hangs on the side of Fred's car?
Nothing, because Wolly Park just doesnt sound scary.
Every few years someone announces that they'll clone a mammoth within the next few years. I remember writing a science report about this in the 6th grade, around 1990-91. It'd be great if they finally do it, but I'm not holding my breath.
I'm sure they'd make good eating, though.
Now it's giving us scientific breakthroughs.
It must be stopped.
So they have the nucleic DNA - what about DNS from other intra-cellular bodies such as mitochondria? What about the epi-genetic effects of bringing a mammoth fetus to term inside another species? (Presumably an elephant.)
I think what they will end up with is an approximation of a mammoth, not an true instance of the species that became extinct 10,000 years ago.
Never trust a man in a blue trench coat, Never drive a car when you're dead
They were 5 years away, one year ago.
So, it seems that after finding the "holy grail" of the missing genome, they have been set back by one year.
I did a lot of research about this back in January, when they first said that it was 5 years away. I heard a genome scientist interviewed on the radio, and he said that the resulting baby will be at most half Mammoth. It will have more elephant characteristics than mammoth, and will most likely be non-fertile, but it is still an important step to eventually having a fertile mammoth clone.
So, as much as I'd like to imagine mammoths in the zoo for my children to see, the truth is that we are still far from that point.
Free unix account: freeshell.org
new ... stomp....
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Who cares about genetic diversity! We've got the tasty new burger made from an extinct species!
Eat all you want, we'll make more!
Just because something can be done, doesn't mean it should be done. While resurrecting a long ago extinct species might be neat, think of all of the talent and research dollars going into it, when instead those resources could be used to help solve real world problems, like increased crop yields, alternative energy sources, finding cures, etc. None of those have the wow factor of producing another cloned mammal, particularly an extinct one, but all of them would be absolutely more meaningful to the human condition.
what could possibly go wrong?
insensitive clod overlords obligatory xkcd car analogy russian reversals whoosh pedant fanbois ftfy in 3...2...1..PROFIT
Mammoth burgers!
Twitter.com/TrentonHyatt
A Beowulf cluster of these guys !!!!!!
Why not bring back something we made extinct... like the Black Rhino?
It's much more important for Russians to clone Putin right now. By the time the current dictator V.V.Putin dies, the copy will be ready to rule for 50 more years. Medvedev and other animals were not reliable enough, they need the real thing.
Yeah.... and the longer I do systems administration on Microsoft Windows based networks, the more of my hair turns gray. No beard though....
...what does a mammoth taste like?
Proverbs 21:19
I heard he was going to purchase 2 to reproduce to help with his countries food crisis.
Quick! Send in the Business gurus. Maybe we can expedite this process! http://xkcd.com/678/
Do they really sound as dull as Ray Romano?
Simply restarting the DNA is NOT bring any animal back to life. It if was that simple we'd keep our children in a close with food tubes for 18 years then kick them out when they were done waiting to be adults. It takes an awful lot of nurture, parenting, culture, and nature to make an adult anything. The only possible result of this project is a monster slightly resembling a mutant elephant.
Yeah.... and the longer I do systems administration on Microsoft Windows based networks, the more of my hair turns gray. No beard though....
I would think that would make one bald.
...the passenger pigeon? Surely there must be some decent DNA in a museum somewhere, or the very back of a very old freezer...
Even when the experts all agree, they may well be mistaken. --- Bertrand Russell.
...so that in 2016, when Putin is elected with 178% of the total vote, the army can subjugate the teeming masses from mammoth-back. Consequences will never be the same.
So does that mean all of the "You Can Have a Mammoth Penis" emails I am getting won't be spam in 5 years?
IMHO, starting with a mammoth is a bit foolish. Mammoths have been extinct for 4500 years, which generates problems in reconstructing the genome, disease resistance, and probably a half dozen other factors. They're also rather large, and slow to mature, which makes them a terrible experimental animal, and with the reduction in clone lifespan it may not survive to reach sexual maturity. I'm not saying we shouldn't eventually clone the mammoth, but I think we should start with something a bit easier.
A better choice that's equally impressive would likely be the Moa. It's a 12 ft tall, 500 lbs bird that was hunted to extinction 600 years ago. Given how tasty the natives apparently thought it was, there's some potential for farming them as well. OTOH, the best candidate would perhaps be the Thylacine, a marsupial wolf-like predator which has been extinct for only 75 years. We also know how to keep them in captivity and they're fast to mature (lifespan of 5-7 years, 9 in captivity).
... will soon mean "Being totally wiped out and then coming back just to prove a scientific point by some nit-pickers".
"The greatest lesson in life is to know that even fools are right sometimes" - Winston Churchill
Are there not more recently extinct creatures in which we have better specimens to conduct such a cloning experiment?
I for one welcome our new Mammoth Overlords
100 million cavemen can't be wrong!
NDxTreme Content on the Edge.
the real success will be when they can clone enough for our growing demand for obnoxious furry boots
That mammoth he'll be riding is named Rosy O'Donnel.
Maybe the Russians will clone a Yeti next, I know they have been looking for them.
In one of Heinlein's books, a character has himself cloned with one major change: his Y chromosome is replaced with another copy of his own X. This results in two cloned "daughters". Of course, the offspring of the original male organism and the female clone would be as inbred as a creature can be. Plus it would express any recessive traits on the X chromosome. I wonder if the offspring could be kept alive for enough generations to produce diversity through mutation... and whether it would be monstrously cruel to do so.
...this is being sponsored by McDonalds.
mammoth burgers.
I'm keen to have them re-create the Moa and the Haast's Eagle. Nothing says bad-ass like a bird with a 9-foot wingspan that can dive at 50mph
Well it might be nice to clone polar bears when they go extinct. (not joking)
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
And throw chairs when someone says "google".
Yeah.... and the longer I do systems administration on Microsoft Windows based networks, the more of my hair turns gray. No beard though....
Reporter: Wow! he looks so old! He must be ancient! Sir! Sir!! Over here Sir! What is your secret to a long and healthy life?
Greybeard: Women! Women in the morning! Women in the afternoon! Women at night?
Reporter: And how old are you if you don't mind me asking, sir?
Greybeard: On Tuesday I'll be 26.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
10,000 years old. Yeah right. Actually its 4,000 year old. Everybody wants to pretend it's a really old universe. There isn't one piece of evidence for it. Science is supposed to be observable and demonstrable. Neither of which evolution is. Still no missing links. Just fakes, frauds, and artistic impressions. Evolution is a relatively new theory. People still don't want to own up to the fact that the world was created. Because they don't want to be held accountable to a moral system. That is God. www.drdino.com
Never mind...Chuck Norris killed her.
Windows assumes you are an idiot...Linux demands proof.
Hell of a 5-year plan, old sport. "We'll clone a Mammoth!"
http://xkcd.com/678/
I am quite looking forward to this development because of my personal theory that Mammoths were hunted into extinction by humans because they are SO FUCKING TASTY!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
People have been saying scientists are 5 years away from cloning a Mammoth for at least 20 years. Wake me up when it happens.
Hopefully before they do someone will have the ethics debate about bring an extinct animal back to life in a world where their environment is now gone.
Here's a step-by-step guide outlining how difficult it would be to clone a mammoth. you have to gestate the damned thing for example....
Biologists have relatively recently come to understand the complexity, abundance and importance of the mammalian microbiome; for example, it is estimated that bacteria alone (only one component of our microbiome) far outnumber human cells. Given that mammoths are long extinct, their associated microfauna are likely absent from the word as well. Doesn't sound promising for maintaining healthy animals...
I am not a number - I am a free man!