Researchers aim to resurrect mammoth in five years

[ironsides]

Is man on the verge of becoming a god?

TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese researchers will launch a project this year to resurrect the long-extinct mammoth by using cloning technology to bring the ancient pachyderm back to life in around five years time.
The researchers will try to revive the species by obtaining tissue this summer from the carcass of a mammoth preserved in a Russian research laboratory, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.
"Preparations to realise this goal have been made," Akira Iritani, leader of the team and a professor emeritus of [COLOR=#366388 !important][COLOR=#366388 !important]Kyoto [COLOR=#366388 !important]University[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], told the mass-circulation daily.
Under the plan, the nuclei of mammoth cells will be inserted into an elephant's egg cell from which the nuclei have been removed, to create an embryo containing mammoth genes, the report said.
The embryo will then be inserted into an elephant's uterus in the hope that the animal will eventually give birth to a baby mammoth.
The elephant is the closest modern relative of the mammoth, a huge woolly mammal believed to have died out with the last Ice Age.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110117/wl_asia_afp/japansciencemammoth_20110117104445

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Is man on the verge of becoming a god?

No. A god would just wave his hands and pronounce SHAZAM! and there'd be a mammoth. This is science.

 

[karrie]

'is man on the verge of becoming a god?' Nope, but we might be verging on plagiarism.

 

[Cliffy]

I think everybody is their own god. Some have the audacity to try to play god the creator (as some believe that to be) but it seems that when they do, they make a royal mess of it - like trying to manage nature.

 

[Mowich]

Coincidentally, I just watched Jurassic Park again the other day - love that movie - and, as I read the opening post I could not help but remember what Jeff Goldblum's character had to say about bringing back extinct species and the chaos that can result. 'Dinosaur's were marked by nature for extinction' was one of his comments as was, ' nature will always find a way'. The latter comment was in reply to one of the scientist's stating that all the park animals were female and therefore couldn't mate.

IMHO, it is bad enough that we keep exotic creatures that grace our Earth trapped behind bars for our pleasure, are we now to add an entirely new dimension of species that are so foreign to us they may as well have come from another planet?

 

[Tonington]

I think it's presumptuous to think that there will be a mammoth born in 5 years time. The experience of somatic cell nuclear transfer has been that some animals, for whatever reason, appear to be more easily cloned using this method.

And even for species where cloning attempts like this are successful, it's still inefficient. More than 90% of the embryos will die, and of the embryos that survive, many will die young.

Not sure what the hope is for this project, beyond the ensuing media circus.

 

[Dexter Sinister]

Agreed, Tonington. It's science alright, but I don't think it's good science. At best it seems pointless.