Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Cloned Mammoths Made More Likely

Sometimes I read the science news and just scratch my head. It is really going to be possible to clone an extent mammoth? A couple of scientists from Japan think they have a technique. My question is... Is it ethical?

Cloning mammoths would probably be tougher, since the temperatures of the frozen carcasses have fluctuated a lot over tens of thousands of years. If good DNA could be found, donor eggs could be used from Asian elephants, close relatives of mammoths. (African elephants are more distantly related.)

Source: Cloned Mammoths Made More Likely by Frozen Mice

On the surface, I cannot come up with a good argument against cloning a mammoth. That does not mean that doing so is ethical. I simply do not have enough information at this time. I will need to think about it (I say that a lot these days).

I like to see science news tempered by ethical discussions, especially science that crosses into science fiction. Of course, I would line up to see the first cloned mammoth just like the next guy. 

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Jurassic Park is on my mind at the moment - just heard Michael Crichton died - and I agree that there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with attempting to recreate a mammoth but what would be the reason to do it? Pure research into mammoth life or finding out how to make money off the thing?

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