Scientists trying to clone, resurrect extinct mammoth

[Ian David]

Scientists trying to clone, resurrect extinct mammoth

A team of scientists from Japan, Russia and the United States hopes to clone a mammoth, a symbol of Earth’s ice age that ended 12,000 years ago, according to a report in Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun. The researchers say they hope to produce a baby mammoth within six years.

The scientists say they will extract DNA from a mammoth carcass that has been preserved in a Russian laboratory and insert it into the egg cells of an African elephant in hopes of producing a mammoth embryo.

The team is being led by Akira Iritani, a professor emeritus at Kyoto University in Japan. He has built upon research from Teruhiko Wakayama of Kobe's Riken Center for Developmental Biology, who successfully cloned a mouse from cells that had been frozen for 16 years, to devise a technique to extract egg nuclei without damaging them, according to the Yomiuri report.

<snip>

"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 told Yomiuri. "After the mammoth is born, we'll examine its ecology and genes to study why the species became extinct and other factors."

More:
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/17/scientists-trying-to-clone-resurrect-extinct-mammoth/

Hat-tip to: http://twitter.com/thinkgeek/status/27393210061946880

[RT Atlanta]

And so it begins...

My initial impression is this is fascinating.

There are, of course, many other considerations that should be analyzed as part of this too, but... WOW!

[sellitman]

1. Didn't they see the movie Jurrasic Park?

:scared:

[RKP5637]

2. Jurassic Park n/t

[Deep13]

3. Cool. nt

[Demeter]

4. Just keep them out of the hydrangeas

[dmallind]

15. A Thursday Next reference? nt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. that means that Sarah's cells implanted in a horse's ass

cell can also reproduce.
scary.

[Richard D]

6. I heard . . .

. . . there's already on the table a chain of high-end restaurants planned for Japan that would specialize in Mammoth meat.

Mmmmmmm . . . mammoth sashimi.




(just joking, I think).

[felix_numinous]

7. Just because you can doesn't mean you should

-should be tattoed on every science geeks forehead. Sorry geeks, but you know it's true.

[DirkGently]

8. My vote is for "cool." Reserve "... and maybe creepy" for the first cloned proto-human. (nt)

[TlalocW]

9. I wish science would quit screwing around and start breeding Shmoos

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmoo

TlalocW

[Kablooie]

10. I'm waiting for Igor to return with DNA stolen from the local cemetery.

[eShirl]

14. or a jar marked Abbie Normal

[thereismore]

11. Not so easy, there's a ton of problems with differentiated cell's DNA. nt

[dimbear]

12. Some of these projects are so hard it's easier to start from scratch.

Once you can do that, there's effectively no horizons left. We can beat the energy crisis by riding unicorns to work.

[meow mix]

13. is jeff goldbloom on board with this?

i hope he's been informed at least.