It's a shame that Michael Crichton passed away recently, because I think he would have found this latest discovery of great interest. Scientists are very close to decoding the entire genome of the Wolly Mammoth, using hair fibers. What's more, they believe it may soon be possible to recreate the extinct species, and that someday mammoths could roam the earth again.
Although Jurrasic Park may still be a long, long way off, we could in our liftime see prehistoric creatures like the mammoth, dire wolf & sabre tooth tiger roaming a Pliestocene game reserve.
Almost makes me wish I was a kid again. You can read more about it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/science/20mammoth.html
and here:
http://www.livescience.com/animals/081119-ap-mammoth-dna.html
1 comment:
Hmm...coming from the biotech side, it is a doable option. However, I'm not sure how feasible it really would be. Ever since the birth of Dolly, there's always been talk about "resurrecting" extinct species and what not. It took 277 attempts (sheep) in order to make Dolly. Even then, she died prematurely, and suffered from arthritis and other afflictions.
...Makes you wonder how many elephants it would take to make a wooly mammoth? -And do we even have that many viable female elephants in captivity around to do it?...and how are we going to find a lizard big enough to birth a dinosaur???!!!
BTW... we cannot resurrect Hitlers, Napoleons, or Genghis Khan. Not only are we short on resources for this, but a clone is the equivalent of an identical twin. Hitler's clone could become the next world famous ice skater for all we know...
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