Scientists Plan to Clone Mammoths

[Phaedrus]

This would be really, really frickin cool IMHO ...

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TOKYO (AP) -- Japanese scientists seeking to clone prehistoric wooly mammoths were preparing their first frozen DNA samples in bid to bring the beasts back to life.

Remnants of what scientists think is from mammoth bone marrow, muscle and skin were unearthed last August in the Siberian tundra where they had been preserved in ice for thousands of years.

Researchers at the Gifu Science and Technology Centre and Kinki University want to use the genetic material encased within the cells to clone a wooly mammoth, said Akira Irytani, a scientist at Kinki University in western Japan.

But first, they must determine whether the five specimens brought from Russia on Tuesday are really from mammoths. If so, they must then decide whether the DNA locked inside is well enough preserved for cloning to proceed.

After that, it could take years to actually produce an animal.

"There are many different problems to overcome," the Gifu Centre's Hideyoshi Ichibashi said.

"I think we can move ahead only one step at a time."

Kinki University scientists, joined with veterinary experts from Kagoshima University in southern Japan, have searched for mammoth DNA samples since 1997 in Siberia.

Kinki University's Irytani was hopeful about the DNA samples, estimated at 20,000 years old, saying they had been well preserved.

 

[LogansRun]

That would be cool! Reminds me of Jurrasic Park. How many other extinct animals can we bring back? I would like to see the sabre toothed tiger (no dna though

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[Phaedrus]

It depends upon the integrity of the DNA. The process in Jurassic Park -- taking DNA fragments from parasites and reconstituting it with amphibian -- might work to some extent, in that it might produce living creatures, but they would most likely not be of any currently-known dinosaur species.

The mammoths from Siberia are incredibly well-preserved; they still have hair unbelievably enough.

The Tasmanian tiger is another extinct species which is being researched as a cloning candidate -- but it isn't actually a tiger; it's a striped relative of the hyena.

All I care about, is that this foundation research leads the way for human cloning. An immortal Phaedrus is a happy Phaedrus, free to post on fora the world over for all time. Now that is what I call a fulfilling eternity.

Phaedrus