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General => Science => Topic started by: Tank on March 13, 2012, 02:25:06 PM

Title: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Tank on March 13, 2012, 02:25:06 PM
S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth

QuoteRussian and South Korean scientists have signed a deal on joint research intended to recreate a woolly mammoth, an animal which last walked the earth some 10,000 years ago.

The deal was signed by Vasily Vasiliev, vice rector of North-Eastern Federal University of the Sakha Republic, and controversial cloning pioneer Hwang Woo-Suk of South Korea's Sooam Biotech Research Foundation, on Tuesday...

Squeeeeee!!!
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Sandra Craft on March 13, 2012, 02:32:57 PM
I have to admit to being nervous about this.  Couldn't they start with the squirrel?
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Tank on March 13, 2012, 02:34:15 PM
Quote from: BooksCatsEtc on March 13, 2012, 02:32:57 PM
I have to admit to being nervous about this.  Couldn't they start with the squirrel?
You can't miss a mammoth with a cannon. Squirrels can be smart little buggers.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: KingPhilip on March 13, 2012, 02:35:07 PM
No, no, this is brilliant. Because you see, they'll want to make many of them to learn how they interacted with one another, and so they'll need a place to keep them. They'll have a massive reserve just for the mammoths. And then, well they already have this giant sectioned off area for the prehistoric beast, so why not bring back a few more? And before you know it, real life Jurassic Park. Can't wait!!  :D :D
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Tank on March 13, 2012, 02:38:05 PM
I was discussing Jurassic Park and somebody suggested how dumb it was to bring back T-Rex as they'd eat us all. I pointed out a T-Rex would be an east target for an Apache gunship. If you put a $10,000 bounty on the head of a T-Rex how long do you think they'd last? It would be a big-game hunters wet dream come true.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: KingPhilip on March 13, 2012, 02:40:15 PM
Just wait, around that time, probably decades ahead, we could also be much further ahead with genetic engineering. So take a cloned t-rex, add in some dwarfism genes, and presto! Brand new family pet. Well....maybe start with a stegosaurus or something....

Now that I'd pay money for.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Tank on March 13, 2012, 02:42:19 PM
Quote from: KingPhilip on March 13, 2012, 02:40:15 PM
Just wait, around that time, probably decades ahead, we could also be much further ahead with genetic engineering. So take a cloned t-rex, add in some dwarfism genes, and presto! Brand new family pet. Well....maybe start with a stegosaurus or something....

Now that I'd pay money for.
Stegosaurus the size of a cat would be soooo cool!
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Sandra Craft on March 13, 2012, 02:42:43 PM
Quote from: Tank on March 13, 2012, 02:34:15 PM
Quote from: BooksCatsEtc on March 13, 2012, 02:32:57 PM
I have to admit to being nervous about this.  Couldn't they start with the squirrel?
You can't miss a mammoth with a cannon. Squirrels can be smart little buggers.

I just have visions of myself flattened at the bottom of the thing's foot.  Seriously tho, this is spectacularly cool and I wonder what medical uses the technique could have.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Tank on March 13, 2012, 02:43:52 PM
This was a good little story http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Statue_for_Father

QuoteA theoretical physicist and his son work on the theory of time travel, and experiment with a method of reaching back into time and retrieving objects (as also occurs in "The Ugly Little Boy" and "Button, Button").

More by serendipity than design, they manage to retrieve a nest of dinosaur eggs which in due course hatch. They keep on working but are unable to repeat the experiment. In the meantime, the dinosaurs grow and are kept as pets. But when one of them accidentally gets electrocuted, they can't resist tasting the flesh beneath the scales and find that it tastes delicious.

The two men decide to raise the dinosaurs to be killed for food and open the first of a successful chain of restaurants dedicated to serving "dinachicken".

The ironic twist of the title is that the physicist is remembered not for his scientific achievements, but for his culinary discovery.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Buddy on March 13, 2012, 03:11:02 PM
Quote from: KingPhilip on March 13, 2012, 02:40:15 PM
Just wait, around that time, probably decades ahead, we could also be much further ahead with genetic engineering. So take a cloned t-rex, add in some dwarfism genes, and presto! Brand new family pet. Well....maybe start with a stegosaurus or something....

Now that I'd pay money for.

I'm still waiting to be able to fit my horse in my pocket.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: KingPhilip on March 13, 2012, 03:18:14 PM
Quote from: Budhorse4 on March 13, 2012, 03:11:02 PM
I'm still waiting to be able to fit my horse in my pocket.

That seems to entirely defeat the purpose of a horse....
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Buddy on March 13, 2012, 03:38:01 PM
Quote from: KingPhilip on March 13, 2012, 03:18:14 PM
Quote from: Budhorse4 on March 13, 2012, 03:11:02 PM
I'm still waiting to be able to fit my horse in my pocket.

That seems to entirely defeat the purpose of a horse....

Little horses are surprisingly strong. I had a little mini who would pull a cart for hours and not break a sweat.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Tank on March 13, 2012, 03:38:13 PM
Quote from: KingPhilip on March 13, 2012, 03:18:14 PM
Quote from: Budhorse4 on March 13, 2012, 03:11:02 PM
I'm still waiting to be able to fit my horse in my pocket.

That seems to entirely defeat the purpose of a horse....
Unless the purpose is to be cute. We've done it with dogs.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: hismikeness on March 13, 2012, 05:14:24 PM
How about a mini giraffe (http://www.petitelapgiraffe.com/photos.php)?

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.adweek.com%2Ffiles%2Fadfreak%2F6a00d8341c51c053ef014e6011edeb970c-450wi&hash=26caeec0d4cd6f0927eecc9e6818230e440cb0d8)

I am certain this is a hoax, but would be cool nonetheless, and especially with dinosaurs or a mammoth. They'd probably have to change the name though- miniature mammoth is an oxymoron.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Buddy on March 13, 2012, 05:54:17 PM
Quote from: hismikeness on March 13, 2012, 05:14:24 PM
How about a mini giraffe (http://www.petitelapgiraffe.com/photos.php)?

(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.adweek.com%2Ffiles%2Fadfreak%2F6a00d8341c51c053ef014e6011edeb970c-450wi&hash=26caeec0d4cd6f0927eecc9e6818230e440cb0d8)

I am certain this is a hoax, but would be cool nonetheless, and especially with dinosaurs or a mammoth. They'd probably have to change the name though- miniature mammoth is an oxymoron.

Mini Masti? Short for mastodon.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Asmodean on March 13, 2012, 07:04:19 PM
I like the idea. Let them clone! If they succeed, The Asmo will be pleased.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: KingPhilip on March 14, 2012, 01:22:07 AM
Saw this and immediately thought of the conversation here about pet dinosaurs:

http://io9.com/5892683/meet-the-two-newest-tiniest-horned-dinosaurs

QuoteUnescopceratops was tiny, maxing out at about six feet long but often closer to about a meter in length, and it weighed less than 200 pounds. That's positively gigantic to the Gryphoceratops fossil that was discovered. The specimen, which the paleontologists believe to have been an actual adult, can't have been more than two feet long, making it easily the smallest horned dinosaur ever found in North America and one of the very smallest plant-eating dinosaur we have found.

Forget mammoths and stegosauruses, I want some of these. They're already shrunk.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: The Magic Pudding on March 14, 2012, 02:47:28 AM
Quote from: Asmodean on March 13, 2012, 07:04:19 PM
I like the idea. Let them clone! If they succeed, The Asmo will be pleased.

They were very good at clearing snow, you could probably make good (or evil) use of one.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Tank on March 14, 2012, 08:58:41 AM
Actually given global warming we'll have to plant loads of forests on Antarctica so they can live there. That'll piss the penguins off!
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Asmodean on March 14, 2012, 09:06:05 AM
Quote from: The Magic Pudding on March 14, 2012, 02:47:28 AM
you could probably make good (or evil) use of one.
Nothing wrong with His Asmoness combining the two.  :D

Good for The Gray one. Evil for those he intends to dominate.
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Augustus on March 22, 2012, 08:14:48 AM
Never know, a large supply of cloned Mammoths could feed a lot of people.
Mmm Mammoth burgers!  :P
Title: Re: S.Korean, Russian scientists bid to clone mammoth
Post by: Tank on March 22, 2012, 08:26:24 AM
Quote from: Augustus on March 22, 2012, 08:14:48 AM
Never know, a large supply of cloned Mammoths could feed a lot of people.
Mmm Mammoth burgers!  :P
Well if protein production were an issue there should be millions of buffalo being farmed in the USA. They are more efficient than cattle in converting grass to meat!