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

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."

Comments

Imagine all the people...

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Fantasists

[AmiMoJo]

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.

Re:Fantasists

[Blaskowicz]

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.

Re:Fantasists

[Thanshin]

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.

Re:Fantasists

[RobHostetter]

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!

Re:Fantasists

[alexander_686]

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.

It's a slippery slope

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:It's a slippery slope

[Immerman]

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

Liverpudlian Park

[somersault]

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.

Re:And do what?

[Thanshin]

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.

Re:DNA Copyright?

[tgd]

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.

Re:Nature v. Nurture

[The Evil Atheist]

An experiment performed with every identical twin.

Dentist and writer both fucking idiots

[wonkey_monkey]

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*

Re:Nature v. Nurture

[ifiwereasculptor]

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!

Oblig Sheldon Cooper quote

[Cryacin]

"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!"