November 21, 2008--Neaderland
If you have any money left, for a mere $10 million you can regenerate your own Wooly Mammoth. I’m talking a living, breathing one. Not a Disneyland papier-mâché version.
The problem, of course, would be what to do with him or her.
The last of them roamed North America and the Siberian Steppes about 10,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age; and, what with global warming, a newfound natural habitat wouldn’t be that easy to locate.
So before you think about contacting the scientific team at Penn State University, who just announced that they have recovered a big chunk of the Mammoth genome from clumps of some salvaged hair and are thus ready to regenerate one as soon as someone comes up with the cash, think about what you would do with this distant cousin of today’s African elephant.
I’m OK myself with the skeletal remains on view at the American Museum of Natural History, but confess that if the Bronx Zoo or the Ringling Brothers Circus came up with one, I’d probably get in line to see it.
If you’re interested in how the scientists have gotten this far and how they would proceed to make one, check the New York Times article linked below.
In it you might note, as a sort of throwaway, that the same technology could be used to regenerate a Neanderthal Man whose full genome is expected very soon to be recovered. There is no price tag associated with regenerating one though of course there are ethical issues since Neanderthals are from the Homo genus—as are we—and are considered most likely to be a subspecies of humans—us again; and thus, Geico Insurance aside (who use modern-day Cavemen in many of their commercials), who would feel comfortable regenerating an extinct version of ourselves?
Anyway, anyone rich enough to come up with millions for contemporary Neanderthals would probably be more interested in having themselves cloned.
On the other hand, with the economy in the state it’s in, eager to attract shrinking tourist dollars, I could see the Disney people ordering up a family of Neanderthals and setting them up in a cave next to Tommorrowland. In a sort of Yesterdayland. It could be quite an attraction.
The problem, of course, would be what to do with him or her.
The last of them roamed North America and the Siberian Steppes about 10,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age; and, what with global warming, a newfound natural habitat wouldn’t be that easy to locate.
So before you think about contacting the scientific team at Penn State University, who just announced that they have recovered a big chunk of the Mammoth genome from clumps of some salvaged hair and are thus ready to regenerate one as soon as someone comes up with the cash, think about what you would do with this distant cousin of today’s African elephant.
I’m OK myself with the skeletal remains on view at the American Museum of Natural History, but confess that if the Bronx Zoo or the Ringling Brothers Circus came up with one, I’d probably get in line to see it.
If you’re interested in how the scientists have gotten this far and how they would proceed to make one, check the New York Times article linked below.
In it you might note, as a sort of throwaway, that the same technology could be used to regenerate a Neanderthal Man whose full genome is expected very soon to be recovered. There is no price tag associated with regenerating one though of course there are ethical issues since Neanderthals are from the Homo genus—as are we—and are considered most likely to be a subspecies of humans—us again; and thus, Geico Insurance aside (who use modern-day Cavemen in many of their commercials), who would feel comfortable regenerating an extinct version of ourselves?
Anyway, anyone rich enough to come up with millions for contemporary Neanderthals would probably be more interested in having themselves cloned.
On the other hand, with the economy in the state it’s in, eager to attract shrinking tourist dollars, I could see the Disney people ordering up a family of Neanderthals and setting them up in a cave next to Tommorrowland. In a sort of Yesterdayland. It could be quite an attraction.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
7:19 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home