Most of Woolly Mammoth Genome Reconstructed 245
geekmansworld writes "From the Washington Post, 'An international team of scientists has reconstructed more than three-quarters of the genome of the woolly mammoth using DNA extracted from balls of hair, the first time this has been accomplished for an extinct species.' Who wants a pet mammoth?"
Not quite there yet (Score:5, Insightful)
Given that they have yet to work out how many chromosomes the woolly mammoth had, or which of the DNA features are genuine mutations, and which are artefacts caused by damage since the death of the creatures from whom DNA was extracted, there's a fair distance to go yet.
Still, I don't doubt this is a seriously fun project to be working on. I'd love to get involved.
Re:When did they die out? (Score:4, Insightful)
There are no stupid questions. But there are stupid places to ask them. Try [google.ie] elsewhere [google.ie], for better sources of information.
Re:When did they die out? (Score:5, Insightful)
Really? Considering the amount of SEO spam that's corrupted Google search results, considering the cabals, corruption and low quality of most wikipedia results, and considering that many of the world's experts on most science and technology fields ARE regularly reading slashdot, then I seriously doubt there IS ANY better place to ask a science related question than on this site.
Of course, the downside is that there are some grumpy, elitist pedants here.
Do we really want to? (Score:3, Insightful)
Do we really want to do this to a sentient and intelligent species?
For a start, the Neanderthal will be a circus freak for all his life. Whatever his other achievements or shortcomings would be, he'll still be that reconstructed Neanderthal. I doubt that he could have a normal job or relationship or interact normally with new people, without getting back to that aspect that he's the only Neanderthal in the world. Even assuming that all people he'll meet are nice and tactful, it's still that curiosity aspect. It sounds like a recipe for getting depressed later.
But the more realistic aspect is that most people just aren't that nice. There are plenty of people for which it's nearly impossible to say "black" without an "N", if you know what I mean, and for whom it's a human rights issue if you even ask them to be nice. Can you imagine what these guys would be like, to a different _species_.
I mean, whatever job he'll ever get, and for whatever personal skills or achievements, there'll _always_ be some idiot trying to make one of the following points:
- he only got it because he's a Neanderthal, or
- Earth for humans, you freaks don't belong here, or
- here's a long list of bullshit and fallacies as to why your kind is biologically too stupid for this job, and we don't want your kind around,
etc.
Can you imagine a Neanderthal going through high-school without a trauma, for that matter? High school "society" nowadays is based on _extreme_ conformism. (Even if, ironically, it usually means conforming to the image of being a non-conformist rebel.) To belong there, you must look like everyone else, listen to the same music as everyone else, say the same ideas and memes as everyone else, etc. Probably half the RIAA labels' income comes from teenagers who just have to buy the same albums as everyone else in their peer group, for example. And being different in any way, is a recipe for being at best ostracized and at worst bullied constantly. How do you think they'll behave towards our hypothetical reconstructed Neanderthal, which looks different from the rest, speaks very differently too (if recent research about their larynx and hearing system are right), maybe even has different aptitudes (Neanderthals never seem to have invented or used or made missile weapons, so maybe this guy will just not be wired to have any skill in any ball game), and possibly have the brain wired differently enough to think differently?
Re:The only important question (Score:3, Insightful)
Seriously, you think mammoth meat probably smelled and tasted like Limburger cheese because a guy stuck horsemeat in a pond for months, and then it smelled and tasted like Limburger? A couple of clues as to where you might have gone wrong - fresh horsemeat does not taste or smell like Limburger, and mammoth meat probably did not require long term pond storage before it could be eaten.