US/Russians bring extinct species back into existence?

[TonyGosling]

Glyptodon (Doedicurus clavicaudatus)
This enormous mammal, the size of a small car, lived in South America and grazed on grass. It had a spiky, club-like tail, only increasing its resemblance of the dinosaurian ankylosaurs.
Extinct: approximately 11,000 years ago.

DNA source: well-preserved tissues are still to be found, preferably in a cool, dry cave.
Potential egg donor, surrogate mother: giant armadillo. Because of the size difference, it would only be able to carry an embryo for part of the term.


Operation Phoenix: science fiction or science fact?
permalinke-mail story to a friendprint version

15 June, 2009, 22:14

With the rapid progress of biotechnology and with more genomes being deciphered in full, scientists begin to speculate that someday we may be able to help bring extinct species back into existence.
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Any text can be written with the use of the same limited number of letters of the alphabet – from a cookbook to a novel. In this way, the letters of the alphabet can be formed into words, and words have meaning…

In a similar manner, all information about any organism is “written” into its DNA in the form of a universal genetic code – a combination of certain molecules (or “letters”) making up the “words” and “sentences” of a chain-like DNA molecule.

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Therefore, one may suggest that knowing the entire genetic code of some creature would automatically provide a recipe for making it. Unfortunately, things appear to be more complicated in the real world…

Since November 2008, when a joint team of American and Russian scientists published the near-complete DNA sequence of the extinct woolly mammoth in the Nature scientific journal, there has been a lot of speculation as to whether this astonishing creature, along with many others, could be brought back to life.

The New Scientist magazine went further, providing the potential “recipe” for reviving species from the dead.

The sad truth, though, is that creating a living creature from a virtual genome sequence is not possible right now…

However, the rapid progress in biotechnology gives hope, and the tempting idea of reviving some of those stunning beasts that once walked the Earth will certainly find its pioneers. After all, a few decades ago, cloning mammals or the possibility of sequencing entire genomes would have seemed science fiction.

http://www.russiatoday.com/Top_News/2009-06-15/Operation_Phoenix__scie nce_fiction_or_science_fact.html

[rodin]

And Obama is a clone too I hear....