Back from the dead: scientists trying to bring back mammoths

[dragonburner]

Not a good idea at all.

Basically, they're going to create something that isn't ever going to be 100% mammoth, and then spend the next few decades poking and prodding it while it barely survives 10,000 years worth of viral evolution that it's ill-equipped to deal with.

Best case scenario, they shift it to a zoo/safari park where it can be gawped at by bored parents and dribbling children, slowly being blinded by a million flashbulbs.

They can't really release it into the wild, so what's the point, other than to prove they can?

Have you seen Jurassic Park? This is a great idea! /sarcasm

 

[Private Custard]

Not a good idea at all.

Basically, they're going to create something that isn't ever going to be 100% mammoth, and then spend the next few decades poking and prodding it while it barely survives 10,000 years worth of viral evolution that it's ill-equipped to deal with.

Best case scenario, they shift it to a zoo/safari park where it can be gawped at by bored parents and dribbling children, slowly being blinded by a million flashbulbs.

They can't really release it into the wild, so what's the point, other than to prove they can?

Have you seen Jurassic Park? This is a great idea! /sarcasm

We need more outdoor toilets for the lawyers!

 

[Terminate421]

How long until my church calls this evil? (I'm catholic)

 

[Neverhoodian]

I don't think this is a good idea. The world is a much warmer place than it used to be when mammoths roamed. Unless you plan on keeping it in a climate controlled location or in the tundra, the poor thing will probably be constantly hot.

Why not try to bring back more recent animals that were hunted to extinction, like the Passenger Pigeon or Tasmanian tiger? They've got stuffed ones in museums, after all.

 

[ecyor0]

Y'know I can't help feeling that people are missing one little detail here. The scientists are going to clone mammmoths back to life. Mammoths. Back to life. This is like the moon landings, or Spirit of St Louis' non-stop flight across the Atlantic, or Edmund Hillary climbing Mt Everest. The event itself doesn't have any immediate practical application, but that's not the point - it was done. Humanity took another step up the ladder of advancement.

And again; cloning Mammoths back from extinction. If you can't read that sentence without even a small thrill of "we live is AWESOME times!", you may want to go and check behind the desk for your humanity, 'cause you've misplaced it.

Screw the practicality of it, I want my personal mammoth steed! Hiyah!

 

[lawrie001]

Ok few points guys.
1. people saying the mammoth isnt 100% mammoth know nothing of genetics, there transferring the nuclei of a mammoth cell into the egg, so all the DNA will be mammoth, no elephant or anything. So it will be 100% mammoth (the egg will just provide the materials for the egg to grow).
2. Immunity is genetic aswell, yes antibodies are not genetically linked but antigens (protiens and receptors on cells) are genetic and can cause a resistance to viruses (such as 20% of people born in europe having resistance to HIV due to a evolutionary response to a great virus pandemic (possibly the black death)). So the mammoth may not be 100% protected to all modern viruses and could very well die from a disease.
3. being able to ressurect a species from deep freeze means that if any future species get wiped out by man we can bring them back, and also is just research into our planets past etc

 

[BoogieManFL]

Interesting to be sure.. But I can't help but think maybe the expertise, money, and time be spent on helping currently endangered species live on. Mammoths have been gone for a long time and the world is a different place. Whatever effects their extinction caused is long gone. Current species dying off could affect the balance and pose real concerns.

However, the information learned doing this will probably open it up more to issues like I mentioned above and advance science and medicine as a whole. Progress is progress..

 

[Trildor]

I'd rather they work to save species that are currently close to extinction.

Still pretty cool, though.

 

[A Raging Emo]

They're basically elephants with fur that aren't suited for today's climate.
Woop.
Bring back a Tyrannasaurus Rex and I'll be interested. You could win wars with that.

Here's something I never thought I'd type, but...

Explosives > Dinosaurs.

On Topic: I've been Ninja'd here, but the "Mammoth" will never be a true Mammoth. How will we know how it will act as soon as it is a physical thing (Assuming the process works anyway)? It could be exceedingly different to a Mammoth.

 

[Crazy_Dude]

"Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should"

Jeff Goldlum is awesome and as are his quotes.

 

[ChildofGallifrey]

But, with the illness issue sorted, I still don't see any point when these scientific superbrains could be putting their skills to use with creatures of today.

There's a whole world of endangered and important animals, yet they want to create something that has no place or purpose!

I think it's because this theory is still in its infancy. I think they'd want to be pretty damn certain of the process before they go to work on endangered species, lest something go wrong and the test animal dies. That's the way I see it, anyway.

 

[HeySeansOnline]

It looks like a lot of people are going with the Jeff Goldblum school of thought on this one. I personally think it's a great thing. While it can't have any major benefits it will just show how we have evolved as a species.

We can bring creatures back from the dead, think what this will say to the rest of society, it may actually lead to funding for similiar projects on modern animals.

 

[Mr Montmorency]

So, we'll have African Elephants, Asian Elephants, and soon, Siberian Elephants.

I'm sure the ecosystem will be fucked. Why didn't they bring back the Neanderthals? At least that would being practical for the development of mankind, right? Probably too complicated or something, though. Maybe something to do with those fucking religious zealots or something.

 

[TheAceTheOne]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this isn't smart... If someone's already mentioned zombammoths (That's right, zombammoths. Zombie mammoths.), apologies. Otherwise, zombammoths could kill us. Let 'em stay chilled and dead. Humanity isn't meant to play with nature, if you ask me.

 

[PurpleLeafRave]

They're basically elephants with fur that aren't suited for today's climate.
Woop.
Bring back a Tyrannasaurus Rex and I'll be interested. You could win wars with that.

Here's something I never thought I'd type, but...

Explosives > Dinosaurs.

What if the dinosaur had explosives/lasers? Contolled by a person with a remote control and camera from a distance?
Eh?

 

[A Raging Emo]

They're basically elephants with fur that aren't suited for today's climate.
Woop.
Bring back a Tyrannasaurus Rex and I'll be interested. You could win wars with that.

Here's something I never thought I'd type, but...

Explosives > Dinosaurs.

What if the dinosaur had explosives/lasers? Contolled by a person with a remote control and camera from a distance?
Eh?

I like the way this Dinosaur thinks!

 

[pulse2]

Humans are selfish, if there serves no purpose in bringing it back to life, don't, whats the point? Just so it can live a life of misery for our scientific experiments? For it to be hunted in the wild by rabid poachers looking for a quick buck? So it can struggle to maintain it's existance on a planet filled with humans destroying its habitat?

Thats not a life I'd want to life unless all humans too were extinct. Its back enough we have animals on the verge of extinction in these circumstances, let alone ones already extinct.

 

[BlackWidower]

Not a good idea at all.

Basically, they're going to create something that isn't ever going to be 100% mammoth, and then spend the next few decades poking and prodding it while it barely survives 10,000 years worth of viral evolution that it's ill-equipped to deal with.

Immunity is unrelated to genetics. It's related to the types of antibodies in the bloodstream. So what you said is ridiculous. Besides, viruses only attack specific species. Remember the end of War of the Worlds? Yeah, you see that was a movie where they made shit up. There are no viruses on Earth that can attack Martians. There are no universal viruses.

I like this idea because it will show we can still use old tissue samples to bring back extinct species. You know the Bee population is declining? Bees are needed to polinate a lot of our food. So if they go extinct...we're screwed. But if we have a tissue sample in storage, we can use this technique to reintroduce them to the wild.

There are a lot of species that are being stored in underground vaults. It would be nice to know we might be able to do something with them one day.

So a creature closely related to elephants stands no chance of catching a modern day virus then??

Even a baby elephant at Twycross Zoo, here in the UK, got ill soon after birth. Imagine what will happen to a creature that hasn't had 10,000 years to build its immune system along with the viruses of the time.

I'm all for keeping tissue samples of important creatures of our time (the bee thing is a good example). But a mammoth.......what's the point?

No-one's offered a single valid reason as to why the mammoth thing is a good idea, when there are plenty of other creatures scientists could work with.

Again, Immunity is unrelated to genetics (which is what cloning works with). It's related to the types of antibodies in the bloodstream.

The mammoth is being born today, not 10,000 years ago and being taken out of hibernation. The immunities to various diseases we are born with are not due to our genes, we get them from our birth mothers. So this mammoth will get his immunities from his birth mother, likely an elephant or something. So this mammoth will be immune to all illnesses that an elephant is immune to.

Does that make sense?

Not a good idea at all.

Basically, they're going to create something that isn't ever going to be 100% mammoth, and then spend the next few decades poking and prodding it while it barely survives 10,000 years worth of viral evolution that it's ill-equipped to deal with.

Immunity is unrelated to genetics. It's related to the types of antibodies in the bloodstream. So what you said is ridiculous. Besides, viruses only attack specific species. Remember the end of War of the Worlds? Yeah, you see that was a movie where they made shit up. There are no viruses on Earth that can attack Martians. There are no universal viruses.

I like this idea because it will show we can still use old tissue samples to bring back extinct species. You know the Bee population is declining? Bees are needed to polinate a lot of our food. So if they go extinct...we're screwed. But if we have a tissue sample in storage, we can use this technique to reintroduce them to the wild.

There are a lot of species that are being stored in underground vaults. It would be nice to know we might be able to do something with them one day.

So a creature closely related to elephants stands no chance of catching a modern day virus then??

Even a baby elephant at Twycross Zoo, here in the UK, got ill soon after birth. Imagine what will happen to a creature that hasn't had 10,000 years to build its immune system along with the viruses of the time.

I'm all for keeping tissue samples of important creatures of our time (the bee thing is a good example). But a mammoth.......what's the point?

No-one's offered a single valid reason as to why the mammoth thing is a good idea, when there are plenty of other creatures scientists could work with.

Again, Immunity is unrelated to genetics (which is what cloning works with). It's related to the types of antibodies in the bloodstream.

The mammoth is being born today, not 10,000 years ago and being taken out of hibernation. The immunities to various diseases we are born with are not due to our genes, we get them from our birth mothers. So this mammoth will get his immunities from his birth mother, likely an elephant or something. So this mammoth will be immune to all illnesses that an elephant is immune to.

Does that make sense?

It does. It's different to what they were saying last time they decided they were going to try 'making' a mammoth, probably about a decade ago.

But, with the illness issue sorted, I still don't see any point when these scientific superbrains could be putting their skills to use with creatures of today.

There's a whole world of endangered and important animals, yet they want to create something that has no place or purpose!

Well, for starters, it will give paleontologists a live mammoth to study. Which is a first. Second, there will be proof that we can bring a species back from extinction. A boon for biology. Third, I think you miss the point of science and experimentation. It's not to do something useful, but to do stuff because we can.

There's very little that can go wrong, and if it works it'll be awesome. You want to bring back endangered animals? Why? Are all the current living members sterile? What point will that have?

You're saying they shouldn't do this because it's not useful. That's a reason to put it on the backburner, not a reason to not do it.