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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."

37 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. Imagine all the people... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... cloned from a little piece ... oOooo OOOO ooooOOooo...

    1. Re:Imagine all the people... by Joce640k · · Score: 3, Funny

      I predict this dentist is just a copyright troll who's after the music royalties.

      --
      No sig today...
    2. Re:Imagine all the people... by davester666 · · Score: 2

      What could go wrong?

      And did Mark David Chapman just raise his eyebrow?

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  2. 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 Blaskowicz · · Score: 4, Interesting

      He also won't have the same finger prints and iris patterns and some other things like spots on the skin and I don't know what.

    2. Re:Fantasists by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Informative

      The only thing they can be sure to be cloning is the body. And even that will only develop in the same way if it's used in a similar way as the original.

      So the only people that should be cloned are either athletes, models and porn actors/actresses.

    3. Re:Fantasists by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 2

      We will teach him the accordion and raise him on a diet of raw chicken and oompa music.

      Mwaaaa, Ha, Ha, Ha!

    4. Re:Fantasists by wmac1 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Or perhaps even brain traits be a bit different and therefore this new person comes up with different set of capabilities. Besides different education and society will form his personality.

      Eventually you will have almost similar physics but very different outcomes. Smallest differences in two systems will chain and combine during the run time and produce totally different results.

    5. Re:Fantasists by rolfwind · · Score: 3, Interesting

      So the only people that should be cloned are either athletes, models and porn actors/actresses.

      Porn "stars" probably should not be cloned because a lot of the value in a porn star is the novelty factor. The industry eats them up and spits them out. There's enough attractive people in the world willing to suck dick on camera for it to have next to no value.

      Besides, there's no need for real bodies, within 20 years mainstream porn will probably be entirely simulation, something like Hatsune Miku. User gets to direct the action, studios will make money on the upgrades like outfits, and won't have to pay the actress except a one time scanning fee. Studios will also be able to keep "actresses" exclusive and build brand name stars like comic books.

    6. Re:Fantasists by RobHostetter · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You are correct. OTOH my biological father had almost no contact with me from the age of 2 until I was 15. When I first met him it was uncanny. We talked the same, thought the same way, laughed the same. It was insane. My wife and my sister both get creeped out by how similar we are. So nurture is important, but nature is too!

    7. Re:Fantasists by tverbeek · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I would never go to a dentist whose grasp of biology was this tenuous.

      --
      http://alternatives.rzero.com/
    8. 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.

    9. Re:Fantasists by bfandreas · · Score: 2

      Even though identical twins spend the first several years of their lives in much the same environment, the difference between being "the one who sleeps by the window" vs. "the one who sleeps by the door", or "the one who got nipped by the dog" vs. "the one who didn't" can lead to all sorts of personality differences.

      There are even much more extreme differences caused by one single event. Take for instance Arnold Rimmer versus Ace Rimmer. One is a failed chicken soup vending machine repairman(deceased) and the other is permanently lubricated.

      --
      20 minutes into the future
    10. Re:Fantasists by Pieroxy · · Score: 2

      Indeed. I have indentical twins (10yo now) and let me tell ya: They don't have the same abilities nor the same personalities, even though we did raise them approximately the same way. They won't get anywhere with this, except making a clone of JL that will obviously fail to live up to what he will be told he should be. So he will be miserable. Talk about a personality disorder ;-)

      --
      Write boring code, not shiny code!
  3. And do what? by ciderbrew · · Score: 2

    Even if this were possible, why should that new life be forced to play guitar for this nutcase? Maybe clone Lennon has other ambitions. Maybe work for 3 years on the moon... Clone rights people!

    1. Re:And do what? by Thanshin · · Score: 5, Funny

      It would be hilarious if John Lennon II grew to become the head of the largest world banking corporation.

      "Imagine there's no taxes. It's easy if you try. No crash below us. Above us only sky. Imagine all the people. Living just to pay..." - John Lennon II.

    2. Re:And do what? by OzPeter · · Score: 2

      It would be hilarious if John Lennon II grew to become the head of the largest world banking corporation.

      "Imagine there's no taxes. It's easy if you try. No crash below us. Above us only sky. Imagine all the people. Living just to pay..." - John Lennon II.

      You mean Pope John Lennon II ?

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    3. Re:And do what? by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 2

      It would be hilarious if John Lennon II grew to become the head of the largest world banking corporation.

      If he has any innate personality that was reflected in our John Lennon, and society was constantly telling him he had to be a great musician, he'd probably do the opposite anyway.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  4. It's a slippery slope by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    First they clone Lennon. Then they clone Stallon. Soon enough, they've cloned Hittlor.

    1. 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?

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      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  5. Liverpudlian Park by somersault · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dr. Alan Grant: [finding egg shells] Oh my God. Do you know what this is? This is a Beatle egg. The pop stars are breeding.

    Tim: But Grandpa said all the Beatles were men.

    Dr. Alan Grant: Lady Gaga DNA.

    Lex: What's that?

    Dr. Alan Grant: Well, on the tour, the film said they used Lady Gaga's DNA to fill in the gene sequence gaps. They mutated the Beatle genetic code and blended it with that of a crazy bitch who dresses like a homeless person having a fit in a garbage can, but comes up with incredibly catchy melodies. Now, Lady Gaga has been known to spontaneously change sex from male to female depending on which angle she gets photographed from. Malcolm was right. Look...
    [we see a trail of baby Beatle footprints]

    Dr. Alan Grant: Life found a way.

    --
    which is totally what she said
    1. Re:Liverpudlian Park by dkleinsc · · Score: 2

      Wait, that's not Lady Gaga in the egg, that's Weird Al's head on Vlada Gorbaneva's body

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  6. Nature v. Nurture by HJED · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Indeed, it would be an interesting experiment in nature vs nurture. I would suspect that you would get some aspects of his personality, but not others.
    However, artists draw strongly from their cultural background, that would certainly be very different so even if his musical talent is genetic his music would be very different. That's irrelevant though, it would be extremely cruel to clone an individual with such high expectations - especially one likely to be surrounded by media all his life.

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    null
    1. 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.
    2. Re:Nature v. Nurture by ifiwereasculptor · · Score: 4, Funny

      That'd be the most depressing job ever. A clone of someone. Pretty much a second chance to live, but with a completely clean slate. And he'd be mooching off his previous self's talent, always wondering why he couldn't ascend to the same level of recognition nor fully comprehend this figure that people expected him to be. And every song he'd ever compose would be measured against Imagine, setting him up for failure. In time, he'd grow to hate Lennon. It would start subtly, with him only agreeing to play Revolution #9 at concerts, but pretty soon he'd hatch a plan to clone Yoko Ono MY GOD SOMEONE MAKE THIS MOVIE NOW!

  7. Ethics of cloning by SirGarlon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    At first I thought cloning a human at would be extremely cruel because of what happened to Dolly the sheep, but then I used teh Googlz and found that scientist have subsequently cloned Rhesus monkeys with success. So now I only think it would be totally reckless to clone a human, given how limited our understanding of its long-term consequences are.

    --
    [Sir Garlon] is the marvellest knight that is now living, for he destroyeth many good knights, for he goeth invisible.
    1. Re:Ethics of cloning by khallow · · Score: 3, Funny

      Pretty soon, it'll only be "strongly ill-advised" and we can have that come back tour!

    2. Re:Ethics of cloning by Aranykai · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What "happened" to Dolly? Died of a normal disease that is common to that species, and even that very flock? What does that have to do with the ethical implications of cloning?

      --
      If sharing a song makes you a pirate, what do I have to share to be a ninja?
  8. Re:DNA Copyright? by xororand · · Score: 2

    Why?

  9. Just imagine... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Imagine reincarnation
    It's easy if you try
    Only one tooth is needed
    No one ever needs to die...

  10. My first thought ... by tgd · · Score: 2

    "Damn it, I hate Slashdot on April Fools day"...

    Then I realized it was October. I think I have 4/1 PTSD.

  11. Re:DNA Copyright? by tgd · · Score: 4, Funny

    Why?

    Just look at Slashdot. In 1998 they started a clandestine cloning program on a set of donor DNA tagged "Anonymous Coward" and fifteen years later, we still can't eradicate them.

  12. Re:Live a little by camperdave · · Score: 2

    The Turin Shroud is full of it.

    Interesting turn of phrase.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  13. 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.
  14. Oblig Sheldon Cooper quote by Cryacin · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I possess the DNA of Leonard Nimoy! Do you realize what this means? All I need is a healthy ovum and I could grow my own Leonard Nimoy!"

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    Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
    1. Re:Oblig Sheldon Cooper quote by TheloniousCoward · · Score: 2

      Fascinating, Captain.

  15. Dentist is deluded by umafuckit · · Score: 2

    To obtain a complete sequence suitable for cloning you would need a DNA sample that was obtained from living tissue and either processed immediately or suitably frozen in the interim. DNA starts to degrade pretty quickly. That's why nobody is going to clone Lennon or any mammoths any time soon. Regarding the mammoths: yes, they've been fozen but they're discovered as the ice thaws (by which time the damage has been done).

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