Extinct cave bear DNA sequenced

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Psychlone
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03 Jun 2005, 9:30 pm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4602739.stm

Quote:

Scientists have extracted and decoded the DNA of a cave bear that died 40,000 years ago.

They plan to unravel the DNA of other extinct species, including our closest ancient relatives, the Neanderthals.

But they say the idea of obtaining DNA from dinosaurs, depicted in the film Jurassic Park, remains science fiction.

It is highly unlikely that viable genetic material will ever be recovered from fossils that are hundreds of millions of years old.

But the scientists hope to be able to sequence the DNA of ancient humans, which lived at the same time as cave bears, raising the prospect of perhaps one day being able to "build" a Neanderthal from their genetic blueprint.

I think cloning ancient species is a great idea. What do you all think? I am especially interested in seeing Neanderthals cloned. Then humans would no longer be the only intelligent species anymore... :wink:

vetivert
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04 Jun 2005, 12:48 am

yep - sounds good to me, although i'm not sure about all this "build an archaic life form from bits of DNA" thing...

bill bryson's book "a short history of everything" is interesting re: the descent of humans, although he subscribes to the old "savannah" ape thingy, whereas "the aquatic ape" theory is gaining acceptance (at last!) - read elaine morgan's "the descent of women" for info on that (it was overlooked completely, but scientists [i.e. male scientists] are giving it the attention it deserves...finally...)

Ghosthunter
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04 Jun 2005, 12:52 am

dee-dee-dee-dum! dee-dee-dee-dum!

Picture if you will a Aspie frozen in time
and discovered in earth 3005 in the icecaps
of North America. This may bring
mystery or a Aspie Jerastic park to
illustrate the evolution of man that he
never knew,nor acknowledged!

This is your haunting host-Ghosthunter
and I shall bring this cloning? Oops!
script error. This chilling tale of
the macabre and Aspie-Natural!

dee-dee-dee-dum! dee-dee-dee-dum!

And the strory begins...........!

Sincerely,
Ghosthunter

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04 Jun 2005, 1:06 am

/me can only wait for the barking people will do if we clone a Neanderthal! I mean, people bitching in the US about stem cell research. By god! What will they do with a Neanderthal?! I mean, true, they are a different species, but very close to ourselves. It is believed Homo sapiens crowded them out once via competition and habitat. Will we NOW have to put Neanderthals on the Endangered Species List????

Just my opinion, but tampering with animals that we have no direct knowledge of can be kinda dangerous. I mean, not that we're bringing back dinosaurs for an amusement park, but honestly, bringing back ANYTHING that we haven't directly killed ourselves (and maybe not even then) is risky.

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PeterMacKenzie
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04 Jun 2005, 7:09 am

The neandethals may never have gone extinct, just as the dinosaurs are still with us as birds. There's a strong possiblity that homo sapiens neanderthalensis interbred with homo sapiens sapiens, and gave rise to such features as red hair in scots.

http://cogweb.ucla.edu/ep/Neanderthal.html

It's also possible that neanderthal genetics are related in some way to autism.

http://www.rdos.net/eng/asperger.htm

Evidence is thin on the ground and the debate is becoming more heated as it accumulates on both sides.

<Has a big heavy brow, dense musculature, sensitivity to various modern (<15,000 year old) foods, resistance to cold, recessive gingerness etc...>

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Prometheus
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04 Jun 2005, 8:54 am

Thats pretty cool, peter. Is there more of that where that came from?

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PeterMacKenzie
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04 Jun 2005, 9:17 am

A search on newscientist gives a good feel for the current state of knowledge on neanderthals:

http://www.newscientist.com/search.ns?doSearch=true&query=neanderthal

The analysis of the information is left as an exercise to the reader :wink:

General neanderthal info:

http://www.factsabout.com/n/ne/neanderthal.html

More autism/neanderthal stuff:

http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:RMHiKjimYigJ:farviolet.com/~entropy/neanderthal/+neanderthal+autism&hl=en

Information on the subject is rather hard to come by.

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pizzaboss
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04 Jun 2005, 9:29 am

I think cloning ancient species is a good idea. Very interesting. You will broaden your horizons.

ed
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04 Jun 2005, 10:35 am

that'd be great. I haven't seen a wooly mammoth in ages!

MrMeaner
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04 Jun 2005, 11:07 am

Psychlone wrote:

I think cloning ancient species is a great idea. What do you all think?

depends on what ancient species you plan to clone..dinosaurs..like the rex? bad idea! i think mixing long extinct species with today's world would be catastrophic

Sanityisoverrated
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04 Jun 2005, 11:46 am

Oh of course it STARTS with a scientifically sound cloning project, but before too long every kid gets his own genetically engineered Pokemon...

Malcolm_Scipo
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04 Jun 2005, 2:09 pm

Sanityisoverrated wrote:

Oh of course it STARTS with a scientifically sound cloning project, but before too long every kid gets his own genetically engineered Pokemon...

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MrMeaner
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04 Jun 2005, 2:14 pm

i cloned a monkey, then i cloned a goat, then i cloned a dino to eat them both..

vetivert
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04 Jun 2005, 5:34 pm

what on earth is recessive gingerness?

TenebraruM
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04 Jun 2005, 9:48 pm

PeterMacKenzie wrote:

The people who beleive that stem cell research is wrong (ie, Christians) would be a bit buggered if neandethals are cloned - it'd prove the generation-related & creation stories in the old testament to be wrong, therefore there wouldn't be any point in reacting to them being cloned.

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Psychlone
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04 Jun 2005, 11:30 pm

TenebraruM wrote:

PeterMacKenzie wrote:

Doesn't the very fact fossils exist disaprove the old testament, then?

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