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Mammoths Now
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The concept of de-extinction, recovering long-extinct species, was until recently in the realm of science fiction. But no longer. In the University of California they are developing technology to isolate strands of working DNA from extinct species, using hair, teeth, bones and other remnants.
Take, for example, the wooly mammoth—a species of furr
The concept of de-extinction, recovering long-extinct species, was until recently in the realm of science fiction. But no longer. In the University of California they are developing technology to isolate strands of working DNA from extinct species, using hair, teeth, bones and other remnants.
Take, for example, the wooly mammoth—a species of furry elephant whose habitat is in frigid climates. Its frozen remains have been found in the tundra of Siberia, near the Arctic Circle. Because the bodies were frozen, the genes are remarkably preserved, and almost the complete genome has already been mapped. Now the researchers are attempting to bring the wooly mammoth back to life through hybridization—splicing its genes together with its nearest living relative, the Asiatic elephant. This will create a creature not exactly like the wooly mammoth of the past but one that shares many similar traits.
Researchers are still unsure exactly which wooly mammoth genes are necessary to recreate its most essential characteristics, such as the shaggy fur, small ears, and special receptors in the skin that make it less sensitive to heat and cold. Still, the prospect of bringing a long-extinct creature back to life has captured scientific imagination.
The question now is not whether we can but whether we should. What will be the long-term effects of reintroducing the wooly mammoth to the Siberian tundra? Will it be able to survive, or will the same conditions that drove it to extinction wipe it out once again? Finally, what will be the return on investment for all the research dollars poured into this investigation? Will anyone benefit from wooly mammoths roaming the earth again?
If the bones or teeth of a long-dead creature have enough DNA to reconstruct the entire animal, what’s to stop researchers from bringing the dead back to life? Can an intact human body be restored from buried remnants? Even if scientists could somehow bring the body back to life, what of its soul? At most they could recreate a creature as an embryo, which would then have to be implanted into a live surrogate mother to develop into a live animal.
But what scientists can do in a laboratory dwarfs in comparison to what is going on under our noses every second of the day. Each drop of water or handful of soil is teeming with millions of tiny creatures, carrying out billions of sophisticated life processes that put the most advanced laboratory to shame.
The real resurrection of the dead will not come about through genetic manipulation, but as an open miracle of the Creator of all flesh. Advances in science today merely give us a foretaste of the era of revelation that awaits us.
y elephant whose
The concept of de-extinction, recovering long-extinct species, was until recently in the realm of science fiction. But no longer. In the University of California they are developing technology to isolate strands of working DNA from extinct species, using hair, teeth, bones and other remnants.
Take, for example, the wooly mammoth—a species of furry elephant whose habitat is in frigid climates. Its frozen remains have been found in the tundra of Siberia, near the Arctic Circle. Because the bodies were frozen, the genes are remarkably preserved, and almost the complete genome has already been mapped. Now the researchers are attempting to bring the wooly mammoth back to life through hybridization—splicing its genes together with its nearest living relative, the Asiatic elephant. This will create a creature not exactly like the wooly mammoth of the past but one that shares many similar traits.
Researchers are still unsure exactly which wooly mammoth genes are necessary to recreate its most essential characteristics, such as the shaggy fur, small ears, and special receptors in the skin that make it less sensitive to heat and cold. Still, the prospect of bringing a long-extinct creature back to life has captured scientific imagination.
The question now is not whether we can but whether we should. What will be the long-term effects of reintroducing the wooly mammoth to the Siberian tundra? Will it be able to survive, or will the same conditions that drove it to extinction wipe it out once again? Finally, what will be the return on investment for all the research dollars poured into this investigation? Will anyone benefit from wooly mammoths roaming the earth again?
If the bones or teeth of a long-dead creature have enough DNA to reconstruct the entire animal, what’s to stop researchers from bringing the dead back to life? Can an intact human body be restored from buried remnants? Even if scientists could somehow bring the body back to life, what of its soul? At most they could recreate a creature as an embryo, which would then have to be implanted into a live surrogate mother to develop into a live animal.
But what scientists can do in a laboratory dwarfs in comparison to what is going on under our noses every second of the day. Each drop of water or handful of soil is teeming with millions of tiny creatures, carrying out billions of sophisticated life processes that put the most advanced laboratory to shame.
The real resurrection of the dead will not come about through genetic manipulation, but as an open miracle of the Creator of all flesh. Advances in science today merely give us a foretaste of the era of revelation that awaits us.
habitat is in frigid climates. Its frozen remains have been found in the tundra of Siberia, near the Arctic Circle. Because the bodies were frozen, the genes are remarkably preserved, and almost the complete genome has already been mapped. Now the researchers are attempting to bring the wooly mammoth back to life through hybridization—splicing its genes together with its nearest living relative, the Asiatic elephant. This will create a creature not exactly like the wooly mammoth of the past but one that shares many similar traits.
Researchers are still unsure exactly which wooly mammoth genes are necessary to recreate its most essential characteristics, such as the shaggy fur, small ears, and special receptors in the skin that make it less sensitive to heat and cold. Still, the prospect of bringing a long-extinct creature back to life has captured scientific imagination.
The question now is not whether we can but whether we should. What will be the long-term effects of reintroducing the wooly mammoth to the Siberian tundra? Will it be able to survive, or will the same conditions that drove it to extinction wipe it out once again? Finally, what will be the return on investment for all the research dollars poured into this investigation? Will anyone benefit from wooly mammoths roaming the earth again?
If the bones or teeth of a long-dead creature have enough DNA to reconstruct the entire animal, what’s to stop researchers from bringing the dead back to life? Can an intact human body be restored from buried remnants? Even if scientists could somehow bring the body back to life, what of its soul? At most they could recreate a creature as an embryo, which would then have to be implanted into a live surrogate mother to develop into a live animal.
But what scientists can do in a laboratory dwarfs in comparison to what is going on under our noses every second of the day. Each drop of water or handful of soil is teeming with millions of tiny creatures, carrying out billions of sophisticated life processes that put the most advanced laboratory to shame.
The real resurrection of the dead will not come about through genetic manipulation, but as an open miracle of the Creator of all flesh. Advances in science today merely give us a foretaste of the era of revelation that awaits us.
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