03-12-2019, 10:01 PM
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/scien...18856.html
The last woolly mammoth populations died out just over 4,000 years ago, but the prehistoric giants could soon be back and plodding about just like they were during the ice age.
Scientists in Japan claim to have taken a “significant step” towards bringing the extinct species back to life, after they transplanted cells extracted from the carcass of a mammoth into a mouse, where they subsequently recorded positive biological activity.
The cells were taken from the 28,000-year-old mummified remains of a woolly mammoth, named Yuka, found in Siberian permafrost in 2010. The animal, which died when it was about seven-years-old, is one of the best preserved mammoths known to science.
The team extracted tissue samples from the animal’s bone marrow and muscle, which they described as “well preserved”.
Well, this is kind of freaky
. I suppose there's a long way between "activity in some mammoth tissue" and "a living, breathing mammoth", and it'll take years (probably decades) to get there, but the fact that it's even looking possible is quite impressive in its own right.
The thing is, even bringing it back is only half of the job. One of the first Isaac Arthur videos I watched was the one about de-extinction - and, he warned about some of the dangers of bringing back extinct species. Basically, these species didn't just exist in a vacuum: they existed as part of an ecosystem which, in most cases, no longer exists today. So, if we're unable to re-create something like their original ecosystem, then they might just go extinct again - or, even if we do, then our revived animal might take over and make some other species extinct ...
The last woolly mammoth populations died out just over 4,000 years ago, but the prehistoric giants could soon be back and plodding about just like they were during the ice age.
Scientists in Japan claim to have taken a “significant step” towards bringing the extinct species back to life, after they transplanted cells extracted from the carcass of a mammoth into a mouse, where they subsequently recorded positive biological activity.
The cells were taken from the 28,000-year-old mummified remains of a woolly mammoth, named Yuka, found in Siberian permafrost in 2010. The animal, which died when it was about seven-years-old, is one of the best preserved mammoths known to science.
The team extracted tissue samples from the animal’s bone marrow and muscle, which they described as “well preserved”.
Well, this is kind of freaky
. I suppose there's a long way between "activity in some mammoth tissue" and "a living, breathing mammoth", and it'll take years (probably decades) to get there, but the fact that it's even looking possible is quite impressive in its own right. The thing is, even bringing it back is only half of the job. One of the first Isaac Arthur videos I watched was the one about de-extinction - and, he warned about some of the dangers of bringing back extinct species. Basically, these species didn't just exist in a vacuum: they existed as part of an ecosystem which, in most cases, no longer exists today. So, if we're unable to re-create something like their original ecosystem, then they might just go extinct again - or, even if we do, then our revived animal might take over and make some other species extinct
...
. It sounds like a very difficult and expensive process, after all.