Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Dentist Wants To Clone John Lennon Using DNA Extracted From Lennon's Tooth

Posted by samzenpus on from the with-a-little-help-from-my-molar dept.

dryriver writes "People fantasizing about a Beatles comeback tour might yet see their dream come true, all thanks to Dr. Michael Zuk. This dentist is the proud owner of one of John Lennon's teeth, and hopes to use it to clone the musician. By the looks of it, Dr. Michael Zuk came in possession of the tooth in 2011. At that time, he purchased the molar at an auction organized in the United Kingdom, and paid about $30,000 (€22,424) for it. According to The Inquisitr, the dentist is now working alongside scientists in the United States, who are helping him figure out a way to extract DNA from the tooth without damaging it in the process. This DNA would serve to bring back John Lennon. Apparently, Dr. Michael Zuk hopes that his project will snowball into a scientific and pop-cultural revolution. 'To potentially say I had a small part in bringing back one of Rock's greatest stars would be mind-blowing. I am nervous and excited at the possibility that we will be able to fully sequence John Lennon's DNA, very soon I hope,' the dentist reportedly commented on the importance of his work."

5 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. Fantasists by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It seems like most people don't understand what cloning is. They think that they will get John Lennon, but actually they will get a baby that looks exactly like John Lennon but doesn't have his personality or memories, or any learned talents for that matter.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    1. Re:Fantasists by alexander_686 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And we are not even sure of that.

      There are a lot of steps between fertilized egg to a adult that we are still unraveling. We know that some genes are expressed differently deepening on the conditions within the womb – nutrition, diet, etc.

      And if you want an argument that cloning would not work, look at his son Julian Lennon. He looks, sings, and plays like him. If the Beatles were ever to reunite – more likely prior to George Harrison passing, Julian should have taken the place of his father. Yet Julian albums were never his fathers. Kind of a blessing and a curse.

  2. Re:It's a slippery slope by Immerman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Ad so all these folks now have much younger posthumous identical twin brothers raised in a vastly different culture. So what?

    --
    --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  3. Re:Nature v. Nurture by The+Evil+Atheist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    An experiment performed with every identical twin.

    --
    Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
  4. Dentist and writer both fucking idiots by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    People fantasizing about a Beatles comeback tour might yet see their dream come true

    Only if they're morons and don't understand that cloning isn't miraculous resurrection of an individual.

    there is no reason why the same technological advances could not be used to resurrect rock legends.

    *facepalm*

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.