Ice Age Park? Russian, S.Korean scientists to clone woolly mammoth

[claud3]

Ice Age Park? Russian, S.Korean scientists to clone woolly mammoth

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Published: [COLOR=#999999 !important]13 March, 2012, 22:22
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[COLOR=#999999 !important]A woolly mammoth skeleton (Ethan Miller / Getty Images / AFP)
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TAGS: Animals, Russia, SciTech
A Siberian research institute has joined forces with the world’s most controversial geneticist to clone the woolly mammoth – a species that has been extinct for thousands of years.
Vasily Vasilyev, vice rector of North-Eastern Federal University of the Sakha Republic and Hwang Woo-Suk of South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation have signed an agreement, and say they hope to produce a living mammoth within six years.
The union is no accident.
Although mammoths once roamed Earth, they survived the longest in Northern Siberia, with the last dying out less than 2,000 years ago – some 8,000 years after they disappeared elsewhere. The cold climate also meant that they were best preserved in that part of the world, meaning Russian research institutes like Sakha University have access to more frozen mammoth parts than any other.
Hwang is one of the world’s leading geneticists, and a celebrity in his native country. He was the first to clone a dog (Snuppy the Afghan hound, born in 2005) but was later given a suspended prison sentence for embezzlement and ethical violations when it was found out that he had faked some of his research.

South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-Suk (L) shakes hands with Vasily Vasiliev, vice director of North-Eastern Federal University of Russia's Sakha Republic (AFP Photo / Jung Yeon-Je)
But despite the perfect match, the cloning is anything but straightforward – Russian and Japanese scientists have been working on cloning the mammoth for the best part of a decade, and the two countries already have a world-class team at Sakha University.
One of the problems is that the DNA needs to be perfectly preserved. Hwang said that finding undamaged tissue would be the “primary difficulty,” and labeled the job “a tough task.”

If scientists did isolate perfect DNA from the mammoth, it would need to be implanted into the eggs of an elephant. The embryos would then be carried by an African elephant – the closest surviving relative of the mammoth – during a 22-month pregnancy.
But despite the difficulty, seeing the creatures – famed for their colorful fur and 5 meter-long curved tusks – alive on Earth again would constitute perhaps the greatest scientific achievement of the century.

If the project is successful, it would be the second time an extinct animal has been “resurrected.” The Pyrenean ibex – a type of wild goat that became extinct in 2000 – was cloned three years ago, but the billy died within minutes.

link: http://rt.com/news/mammoth-cloning-siberia-kora-501/

Now i am all for bringing back animals and creatures that were extinct.. But i hope not to see this in my town

[Sylar]

I remember hearing about this some years ago, surprised it's all going ahead. I fail to see what the point is in bringing back animals like the mammoth other than man kinds desire to rule over nature. I just hope the science involved in this will be suitable for integration to help medical issues like curing diseases.

[Dave-The-Rave]

Its about damn time..they've been talking about it for way too long. Unethical my ass, its no more different than human who have babies from donors or hosts. This is going to be interesting. If they can get the species reborn and then manage to sustain it and build the populaion back up.

We'll never see dinosaurs though cause we need close relatives. Where the Mammoth is concerned we are lucky there are still elephants around.

[BoyBettaKnow]

I can hear it already

[claud3]

agree, but the fear is still there for it all to get out of control

[mooninites]

I agree with Sylar there is no point to this. Big waste of time and money. These scientist can spend their time trying to do something important to better mankind.

[Mr.Bishop]

I say why the fuck not?

I'd pay to see a wooly mammoth... or a mastodon.

The robot apocalypse will wipe us all out anyway, might as well get as many gigantic animals we can ride against them.

[BoyBettaKnow]

I'd pay to EAT a wooly mammoth... or a mastodon.

Fixed that for you.

C'mon, I can't be the only one thinking that.

[Mr.Bishop]

Fixed that for you.

C'mon, I can't be the only one thinking that.

Could be extremely tasty.

[Dave-The-Rave]

I agree with Sylar there is no point to this. Big waste of time and money. These scientist can spend their time trying to do something important to better mankind.

We only live once, I want to see a Woolly Mammoth DAMMIT !!

[Nick_Scryer]

Awesome! Bring back all extinct animals that still have close relatives.

[Dave-The-Rave]

Bring back neanderthals...

Oh wait we already have those, its called inbreeding

[PeanutButterMunky]

Bring back neanderthals...

Oh wait we already have those, its called inbreeding

We're genetically closer to chimps than we are Neanderthals. Wouldn't work anyway.


* Tapatalking *

[mooninites]

We only live once, I want to see a Woolly Mammoth DAMMIT !!

Dude just get a DeLorean

[PeanutButterMunky]

Dude just get a DeLorean

I don't think the date/time clock goes to the negatives... and plutonium would be very hard to acquire... or finding straight enough roads to reach the appropriate speedometer speed to achieve time travel. Gosh!


* Tapatalking *

[Cybertox]

Russian and the Koreans unites to reproduce the beasts and then conquer the world...
Im ok with that, im russian LOL

[PeanutButterMunky]

Russian and the Koreans unites to reproduce the beats and then conquer the world...
Im ok with that, im russian LOL

O.o


* Tapatalking *

[mooninites]

I don't think the date/time clock goes to the negatives... and plutonium would be very hard to acquire... or finding straight enough roads to reach the appropriate speedometer speed to achieve time travel. Gosh!


* Tapatalking *

Minor details that can be easily solved

[neoxthexone]

Life will find...a way.

[Dave-The-Rave]

Life will find...a way.

Jeff...Goldblum.

[Ghost-Rhayne]

Clone the Megalodon or GTFO. It's just that simple.







/thread

[PeanutButterMunky]

Clone the Megalodon or GTFO. It's just that simple.







/thread

Yeah, I would never go surfing again.


* Tapatalking *

[The-lost-]

I remember hearing about this some years ago, surprised it's all going ahead. I fail to see what the point is in bringing back animals like the mammoth other than man kinds desire to rule over nature. I just hope the science involved in this will be suitable for integration to help medical issues like curing diseases.

I should probably agree with this, but....... i would really like to see a living wooly mammoth. Afterall life would be rather boring if we didnt do some things just for the hell of it. For example, it would be completely pointless and a massive waste of time and money to blow up a shed with dynamite. But i would still do it in a flash if i had a spare shed and managed to get my hands on some dynamite.