Scientists Reawaken Cells From a 28,000-Year-Old Mammoth (vice.com) 82
Cells from a woolly mammoth that died more than 28,000 years ago have been partially reactivated inside of mouse egg cells, according to a study published Monday in Scientific Reports. "The achievement shows that biological activity can be induced in the cells of long-dead creatures, but that does not mean that scientists will be resurrecting extinct animals like mammoths any time soon," reports Motherboard. From the report: A team led by Kazuo Yamagata, a biologist at Kindai University in Japan, extracted cells from the remains of "Yuka," a young female mammoth discovered in 2010 on the coast of the Dmitry Laptev Strait in the Russian Far East. Yuka was entombed in permafrost, a frozen ground layer that can often keep the skin, fur, brains, and other softer tissues of dead animals intact. Because Yuka is in particularly great condition, Yamagata's team was able to extract 88 nucleus-like structures from her preserved muscle tissues. The mammoth cells were implanted into mouse oocytes, which are ovarian cells involved in embryonic development. The researchers also implanted elephant cells into mouse eggs to provide a control sample.
Once the cell nuclei were incubated, they seemed to reawaken -- but only slightly. The cells did not divide, but completed some steps that precede cell division. For instance, the mammoth nuclei performed a process called "spindle assembly," which ensures that chromosomes are correctly attached to microscopic spindle structures before a parent cell breaks into two daughter cells. The fact that Yuka's cells were able to spring back into partial action is both an exciting and challenging development for scientists interested in cloning extinct animals. On one hand, some degree of cellular reactivation is clearly possible. But Yuka is also an exceptionally pristine specimen, and even her cells were not able to complete cell division -- a major hurdle that scientists must clear to accomplish de-extinction.
Once the cell nuclei were incubated, they seemed to reawaken -- but only slightly. The cells did not divide, but completed some steps that precede cell division. For instance, the mammoth nuclei performed a process called "spindle assembly," which ensures that chromosomes are correctly attached to microscopic spindle structures before a parent cell breaks into two daughter cells. The fact that Yuka's cells were able to spring back into partial action is both an exciting and challenging development for scientists interested in cloning extinct animals. On one hand, some degree of cellular reactivation is clearly possible. But Yuka is also an exceptionally pristine specimen, and even her cells were not able to complete cell division -- a major hurdle that scientists must clear to accomplish de-extinction.
Fortune Favors the Bold (Score:4, Funny)
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Next Step: Mouse pregnant with mammoth embryo.
That will be awkward when the baby Mammoth is born and opens its eyes for the first time seeing it's stretched out momma and gets imprinted.
Mammoth will think it's a mouse and try mating with mice when it grows up. Hopefully the Mammoth is a girl, because I don't think a mammoth penis will fit in a female mouse.
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Congrats! It's a mamouse.
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Dr Foglio and the Girl Genius say that the result would be a "mimoth".
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Phil and Dixie?
Re: Fortune Favors the Bold (Score:2)
I for one.. (Score:1)
#obligatory
Re:Jurassic Park (Score:4, Insightful)
No it is Holocene Park.
Dr Ian Malcolm said it best (Score:4, Insightful)
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"You will fail because chaos"
- "I don't get..."
"CHAOS! Oh and also hubris"
Certainly one of the more insufferable characters in movie history (and not at all like the guy in the book)
And in this case, of course they should. Whether they should proceed to build an ill-conceived (and rather lame) theme park with extinct animals is another matter.
Re:Dr Ian Malcolm said it best (Score:5, Insightful)
If they had just built a reinforced concrete wall to separate the zones of the park and put the ride a top it on a monorail there would have been no issue.
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Certainly one of the more insufferable characters in movie history (and not at all like the guy in the book)
Let's not forget David Levinson from Independence Day.
Re: Dr Ian Malcolm said it best (Score:1)
Don't you pick on my boy like that. None of you would be here of it weren't for him. You knew. Back in the 60s. You knew then this was possible.
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And in this case, of course they should.
You say that now, but wait until you're getting eaten alive by a genetically engineered mammoth.
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I don't think a herbivore is likely to eat a human. On the other hand you might get trampled by them.
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“Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that’s how it always starts. Then later there’s running and screaming.”
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In many ways we have been brainwashed into the Warning from Science Fiction, where we relate the experiments to the dystopia that causes many Science Fiction stories.
Genetic Engineering in Science Fiction will lead to monsters, plagues, and KAHNNN!!! KAhnnn!! Kahnn! ann n. Cloning creates doppelgangers, and species of animals that seem well adapted to an environment that is much different to what they were evolved for. AI will always deem mankind is unnecessary and should be destroyed...
Real science is mu
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Those stories are how we process our possible future well in advance. The reason the dystopias never come to pass is specifically because everything has been explored far in advance by fiction. If you think Asimov's fictional 3 laws had no influence on Tesla's pseudo-self-driving cars, you're ignoring a lot.
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"Life, uh... finds a way." - Dr. Ian Malcolm
Re: Life & cells is just chemistry (Score:2)
> there is no "quickening"...
Juan Villa-Lobosh Ramireszh would dishagree.
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You can reawaken me after 28000 years.
You think 28,000 years is long enough- but when you awake they'll still be singing "baby shark" and you'll immediately go back to sleep again.
Re:Start taking samples now (Score:5, Insightful)
Probably because just cranking out endangered species would not really solve the problem. Most of them are endangered due to habitat destruction. Yes there are some exceptions like Wolves in North America where over hunting is to blame. There would be no point for example in release a bunch of endangered cats in Asia with no way for them to eek out a living.
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These cats are frightening.
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I honestly don't know why we aren't already "manufacturing" endangered species.
Because it is expensive. Do you volunteer to fund it?
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It Begins (Score:5, Funny)
Cells have been reactivated inside of "mouse eggs" (Score:2)
Cells from a woolly mammoth that died more than 28,000 years ago have been partially reactivated inside of mouse egg cells
BRAINZZZZZ .... and cheese.
So, errr, like, what do you use -- a mousetrap? A mammoth trap? And it kills them? But, but they're already dead.
More like you'd get 'em more pissed than they were already. A mammoth-sized mouse is now upset with you. And here you thought your day was bad enough already.
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"A mammoth-sized mouse"
The rodents of unusual size? I don't believe they exist.
Reawakening or preserving (Score:2)
Only the young females ... (Score:2)
... get to be desirable, even when it comes to reviving mammoths. After all, what would be the point of reviving an old male ?
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After all, what would be the point of reviving an old male ?
More ivory ?
And just like that... (Score:2)
The mouse became scared of itself.
The race is on (Score:2)
Will the world end in Parasite Eve, Skynet, or Heavy Weather?
Next steps (Score:2)
Finally someone has made exciting advancements in the field. I propose we being to pool efforts to advance this quickly due to it's amazing medical applications. We can start by putting all the scientists in one major facility and managing them under a single Umbrella Corporation.
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Impossible? hurdles (Score:2)
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If you've developed a technique, you will almost certainly already have tried a variety of samples from a variety of sources before you get one which works. So when you've found a solution that works, you try it on the previous samples which didn't work with different techni