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Biotech Japan Science

South Korean Scientists Prepare To Clone Wooly Mammoth 195

An anonymous reader writes "Last year Russian researchers discovered a well-preserved mammoth thigh bone and announced plans to clone a mammoth from the bone marrow within — and they just signed a deal with South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation to bring the project to fruition. The Sooam scientists plan to implant the nucleus of a woolly mammoth cell into an elephant egg in order to to create a mammoth embryo, which would then be placed in an elephant womb. 'This will be a really tough job,' Soaam reasearcher Hwang In-Sung said, 'but we believe it is possible because our institute is good at cloning animals.'" Not to be confused with a similar mammoth effort at mammoth-cloning at Kyoto University.
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South Korean Scientists Prepare To Clone Wooly Mammoth

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  • by GoodNewsJimDotCom ( 2244874 ) on Saturday March 17, 2012 @01:44AM (#39387105)
    the elephant might go extinct like the rhino due to poachers. At least we'll have mammoths. >.>

    I guess the optimist would go,"If we have the tech to do it for mammoths, we can get back other extinct life forms."
  • by physicsphairy ( 720718 ) on Saturday March 17, 2012 @02:55AM (#39387315)

    There's not really any way to know for sure without trying it. But there are a few reasons to be optimistic. We're talking genetically very similar animals (consider all the viable hybrids which occur naturally), and, when you think about it, the womb is a controlled environment. Once you have a highly evolved gestation system in place, selective pressure will tend to favor the existing system. (Look how similar embryos are, even across genetically distant species.)

    If it doesn't work, well, now you figure out where things went wrong and try again. Hopefully you at least have a new batch of cell nuclei to work with.

  • Re:Arsenal (Score:1, Insightful)

    by philip.paradis ( 2580427 ) on Saturday March 17, 2012 @02:58AM (#39387319)

    I try not to make a habit of responding to ACs, but I'll make an exception here. While I agree with the premise of your statement, namely that the distinction between the two nations has been widely recognized and understood since the 1950s, I must strongly express my disapproval of the means by which you conveyed the point.

    All too often, I too am guilty of replying in a manner that is harsher than necessary when pointing out the mistakes of others, typically in cases where the topic of discussion is something that I care strongly about. This is something I try to be more mindful of these days. Perhaps it's because I'm over 30 now. In life, at least in my view, tact matters. Sir/ma'am, your reply simply had no class, and I find that regrettable.

  • Sweet (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Greyfox ( 87712 ) on Saturday March 17, 2012 @03:53AM (#39387447) Homepage Journal
    How much do they want for the first Wooly Mammoth steak?

    On an aside, fuck the rhino. If the countries that have them can't preserve them, the world doesn't deserve them. If Chinese men can only get it up by eating rhino horn and tiger dong, I hope they enjoy their limp penises in a couple of decades, because that's all they're going to have left.

  • Re:Giants (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 17, 2012 @11:03AM (#39389183)

    And what exactly do you think the mammoth ate? Snow and ice? How did the mommoth bodies get under the snow and ice? By digging through?

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