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"Lazarus Project" Clones Extinct Frog
cylonlover writes "Australian scientists have successfully revived and reactivated the genome of an extinct frog. The 'Lazarus Project' team implanted cell nuclei from tissues collected in the 1970s and kept in a conventional deep freezer for 40 years into donor eggs from a distantly-related frog. Some of the eggs spontaneously began to divide and grow to early embryo stage with tests confirming the dividing cells contained genetic material from the extinct frog. The extinct frog in question is the Rheobatrachus silus, one of only two species of gastric-brooding frogs, or Platypus frogs, native to Queensland, Australia. Both species became extinct in the mid-1980s and were unique amongst frog species for the way in which they incubated their offspring."
Good. You have every right to be offended. Now take your ball and go play somewhere else.
Shouldn't we have saved the Lazarus project for when Commander Shepard needs it to come back and save the universe again?
http://www.ted.com/talks/stewart_brand_the_dawn_of_de_extinction_are_you_ready.html
There was a TED talk filmed in February that discusses what they are doing, who is doing it, and why. He does briefly mention what you're talking about. In short: Nature doesn't do things exactly the same way every time either, so don't worry about it.*
* I'm summing up quite a bit. Just watch the video (~20 mins).