Forget Mammoths, We Could Bring Dinosaurs and Neanderthals … – Futurism

In Brief

The scientific world was set ablazeof late as discussions ramped up aboutthe resurrection of the wholly mammoth. I know what youre thinking: Jurassic Park. Well, not quite but maybe not that far off, either. In an interview with Big Think,Dr. Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at the City College of New York, wonders: what if we could clone the Neanderthal, or a dinosaur, based solely off their genomes?

It is a plausible question.George Church, geneticistand director of Harvard Universitys Church Labs, believes that we can clone a Neanderthal in our lifetime. So much so that he thinks all we need is one extremely adventurous human female. While he doesnt advocate for the project to be attempted straight away,he does encourage discussion on the matter. Church believes that with current stem cell technology and our completed sequence of the Neanderthal genome, we are equipped with thepotential to clone a Neanderthal.

The Neanderthals went extinct tens of thousands of years ago, so cloning one from recovered DNA would be impressive enough of a feat but what about something from 65 million years ago? Dr. Kaku addresses this, admitting that cloning a dinosaurwont be as easy ascloning a Neanderthal or a mammoth (which wouldntvery easy to begin with) but that doesnt mean its impossible.

Dr. Kakunotes thatproteins found within the soft tissues of recovered dinosaur femursresemble those of chickens, frogs, and reptiles confirm the theory of their relation. He posits that through theuse of a supercomputer, a genetic sequence could be produced, which would create theoretical potential for cloning through epigenetics.

When it comes to cloning mammoths or dinosaurs, the limitations are mostly technical at this point. With Neanderthals, however, theres an addition element: ethics.Dr. Kaku asks important questions about what scientists would doafter bringing a Neanderthal child to life: Should he or she be placed in captivity like some kind of zoo animal? Would they face a lifetime of study?What if the Neanderthal is naturally aggressive should it be drugged or confined at all times? Many bioethicists debate the ethics of de-extinction, but there are also those thattout genetic diversity.Others believe the act is far too inhumane to even attempt.

Listen to Dr. Kakus argument below and decide where you stand on the should-we-or-shouldnt-we of prehistoric cloning.

Excerpt from:
Forget Mammoths, We Could Bring Dinosaurs and Neanderthals ... - Futurism