

Scientist Plans to Clone Woolly Mammoth - cyen
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2375794,00.asp

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wyclif
I've been waiting for this since I was 7 years old and read a story in
National Geographic about scientists finding a well-preserved Mammoth in the
arctic tundra that still had plant matter in its stomach.

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chrisbennet
Years ago I read an article titled "Our genes are not us" (something like
that) that touched on the problem of cloning a wooly mammoth.

As I understand it, the problem is that the same genes can produce a different
result. An example of this is the caterpillar and the butterfly - same genes
but different expression. External factors can change how the genes are
expressed. External factors include when and how long the fetus is exposed to
certain chemicals in utero.

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jseifer
This is off topic but it reminded me that the book Mammoth by John Varley
([http://www.amazon.com/Mammoth-John-
Varley/dp/0441012817/ref=...](http://www.amazon.com/Mammoth-John-
Varley/dp/0441012817/ref=nosim/hz0d-20)) was a really fun read, though it has
nothing to do with cloning.

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Vivtek
Neat - but why does the article read as though it had been translated from
another language? "Propositioning"?

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ryanf
Yeah, also "died out more than 5,000 years prior." Not to mention describing
the dimensions of a "working" wooly mammoth.

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SwellJoe
It's about time they did some work. Those lazy bastards have been sitting
around doing _nothing_ for over 5,000 years!

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brc
Next up : recreate the Thylacine.

That's the one I want to see brought back from extinction. Though I'm not sure
that any suitable DNA still exists.

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electromagnetic
Given their relation to the Kangaroo you could possibly selectively breed
towards the Thylacine, although it would probably make them monstrously
unhealthy to the point that blowing on one would likely kill it.

I'm unsure of Marsupials cross breeding ability, so I don't know how much
biodiversity could be introduced if a selective breeding project was
undertaken.

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brc
I don't know about that. I'm certainly no expert, but the Thylacine was a
carnivore. As crazy as it sounds, it would seem to be more likely to breed one
from a Tasmanian Devil. As marsupials are 'born' the size of a peanut, the
actual parent wouldn't matter.

There has been articles floating around from time to time about a recreation
of the Thylacine, but I think the stumbling block is the inability to get
enough genetic information, despite the last living example living in
captivity in 1936. Legend has it that the corpse was thrown out with the
trash, althogh I'm not sure I believe that. You'd think they would have at
least embalmed or frozen the corpse, but I guess 1930's conservation thinking
didn't exist or was vastly different.

You can also find a rich litany of resources on the web of reported thylacine
sightings, though none have ever been photographed accurately or verified. It
does seem somewhat likely that a small family or two still lives deep in the
Tasmanian wilderness.

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thret
Reminded me of this: [http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126905.000-ten-
extin...](http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126905.000-ten-extinct-
beasts-that-could-walk-the-earth-again.html)

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brianbreslin
thats behind a pay wall. what are the ten beasts?

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ComputerGuru
Off topic, but, wow was I surprised to see something from PC Magazine! It's
been years since that site had anything other than month old news and reviews
of year old products to offer!

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tintin
Somehow I hope this will not succeed. Although exciting we may be getting
careless about animal extinction because we can 'resurrect' them later.

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mrleinad
You're a disgrace to the nerd & geek community Mr. You bring nothing but
dishonor to us.

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tintin
Can you explain your comment? Or are you just trolling? Since when is thinking
about consequences not nerdy enough?

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electromagnetic
Actually there's been a long desire to reintroduce large game to North America
to stabilize the ecology, increasing biodiversity and hopefully resolving food
source problems for existing ecology.

If you want to think about the consequences of acting, you must also think
about the consequences of inaction. Would there be as many wolf, coyote, bear
and cougar attacks to people and herds in North America if there were a
greater diversity.

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JoeAltmaier
...every year for 20 years

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lotusleaf1987
Jurassic Park in 2015... yesss! This is exciting, I'll be one of the first to
buy a ticket when these end up in zoos and theme parks.

My only question, if anyone can answer, what about their immune system
compared to our own, will they be more susceptible to
diseases/infections/sickness etc?

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Flenser
_Jurassic Park in 2015... yesss! This is exciting, I'll be one of the first to
buy a ticket when these end up in zoos and theme parks._

Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running
and screaming.

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electromagnetic
And then you end up with a T-Rex in San Diego. As Oscar Wilde said "Life
imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life".

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to
wolly mammoth steak, i can already smell you... yummm...

