Japanese Scientists plan to clone a woolly mammotI Guess they learned nothing from Godzilla.
Oh well. I hope they keep in mind that this time Raymond Burr won't be there to save them.
Posted on 02/01/2011 11:47:26 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Japanese scientists believe they have the technology and know-how to create a living woolly mammoth, a clone of a species that died thousands of years ago.
Finding a fully intact frozen woolly mammoth isn’t enough, it seems. Now, a professor at Kyoto University in Japan is planning to bring the species back from extinction through cloning, reports the AFP. Dr. Akira Iritani plans to insert the nuclei of mammoth cells into a modern elephant’s egg cell, creating a woolly mammoth embryo that will be brought to term by an elephant mother. The elephant was chosen because it is the nearest modern relative to the mammoth. Woolly mammoths died out during the last ice age, more than 5,000 years ago. Iritani thinks he can resurrect one in five years.
The key is soft tissue. Unlike older extinct species like the dinosaur family, scientists have been able to dig up entire frozen mammoth carcasses in Siberia, most of which still have soft tissue with cells containing DNA. The key breakthrough is a new technique that allows the scientists to extract DNA from frozen cells. Previously, frozen cells were thought to be too damaged (by the freezing process) to use for things like cloning.
“If a cloned embryo can be created, we need to discuss, before transplanting it into the womb, how to breed (the mammoth) and whether to display it to the public,” Iritani said. ”After the mammoth is born, we will examine its ecology and genes to study why the species became extinct and other factors.”
There is debate among the science community how exactly mammoths went extinct. Some believe that humans hunted the creatures to extinction while others believe that climate change did the furry elephants in. Let’s just hope that all of these scientists give Jurassic Park a watch before they start completing the mammoth genetic codes with frog DNA.
Would you pay to see a living woolly mammoth?
Japanese Scientists plan to clone a woolly mammotI Guess they learned nothing from Godzilla.
I think the ice age began last night. Whew! :’)
No kidding these are the latest reports fro my neck of the woods in IL:
(yesterday) 02/01/2011 09:15 PM; S Woodridge, DuPage County.
Blizzard, reported by NWS employee.Total white out conditions... along Route 53 from Woodridge Illinois to Romeoville Illinois. The visibility was zero in blowing snow. There drifts up to 3 feet along the middle of the Road.
(Today) 02/02/2011 03:31 am; Downers Grove, DuPage County.
Snow 15.1 inch reported by trained spotter. Storm total so far: 18 inches on ground.And its been snowing since then.
Now 22.6oF Snow. Wind 3 mph from North (gusts are higher)
I'd like to find Al Gore at my door and smack him upside his Big Fat Head.
I can't recall snow like this since the mid 1950's
I loved it as a kid, but I didn't have to drive or shovel then.
Wonder if they can bring back 'Tire Chains'? ;-)
Even if they can get some sort of critter out of this it would not be a pure mammoth. [It would have elephant mitochondrial DNA.]
Yeah, no kidding. We had minus 19 this morning.
I’m not entirely on board with those who claim they’d “miss the changing seasons” if they lived in, say, Hawaii. Kinda hate those people. ;’)
Correction, please. That is, Woorry Mammoth.
Be prepared. Stock up on
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