Now that former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is back in the private sector and ready to return to the silver screen, we think we’ve found his first project.
Let’s call it “Walking with the Mammoth.”
It sounds high-concept, but it’s right up the Governator’s alley. See, Physorg.com reported this week that researchers will soon attempt to resurrect the wooly mammoth, a species they believe has been extinct for over 5,000 years by using a cloning process they began studying in 1997. But until a few years ago they couldn’t figure out how to safely extract the DNA. Then, in 2008, Dr. Teruhiko Wakayama successfully cloned a mouse that had been frozen for 16 years.
Using tissue from a preserved carcass held in a Russian laboratory, researchers plan to take nuclei from the mammoth cells and insert them into an elephant’s egg cells, which have been stripped of their natural nuclei. The lab-created embryo with the mammoth’s genes will then be inserted into the elephant’s womb. If things work, the first modern mammoth will be born in four to six years, assuming it takes two years to impregnate the elephant and then nearly two more years of gestation time.
Scientists from the U.S., Russia and Japan are carrying out the experiment. And, given the controversy surrounding cloning, one of the lead researchers said discussions are still being held on how to breed the animal and whether to put it on display.
Should we be bringing ancient species back to life? This sounds a bit too "Jurassic Park."
So what do you think of this?
Let’s call it “Walking with the Mammoth.”
It sounds high-concept, but it’s right up the Governator’s alley. See, Physorg.com reported this week that researchers will soon attempt to resurrect the wooly mammoth, a species they believe has been extinct for over 5,000 years by using a cloning process they began studying in 1997. But until a few years ago they couldn’t figure out how to safely extract the DNA. Then, in 2008, Dr. Teruhiko Wakayama successfully cloned a mouse that had been frozen for 16 years.
Using tissue from a preserved carcass held in a Russian laboratory, researchers plan to take nuclei from the mammoth cells and insert them into an elephant’s egg cells, which have been stripped of their natural nuclei. The lab-created embryo with the mammoth’s genes will then be inserted into the elephant’s womb. If things work, the first modern mammoth will be born in four to six years, assuming it takes two years to impregnate the elephant and then nearly two more years of gestation time.
Scientists from the U.S., Russia and Japan are carrying out the experiment. And, given the controversy surrounding cloning, one of the lead researchers said discussions are still being held on how to breed the animal and whether to put it on display.
Should we be bringing ancient species back to life? This sounds a bit too "Jurassic Park."
So what do you think of this?