Scientists recover T. rex soft tissue

[Hiromi]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7285683/

Jurassic park here we come. More seriously I find this finding incredible.

[Nitmo]

This is awesome! I wish i was there to see it all being done.

[Brad Curran]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7285683/

Jurassic park here we come. More seriously I find this finding incredible.

Wow. I always hoped I could be eaten by a rampaging Tyrannosaraus in my lifetime, but I never thought it was possible.

[JeffreyWKramer]

The interesting thing is, we have had intact, usable genetic material from some extinct mammals (mammoths for certain, and possibly smilodons and giant sloths) for a long time, yet nobody has really attempted to clone them.

Given that, while this will hopefully provide lots of cool, new information, I wouldn't hold my breath for a Jurassic Park scenario.

[Gordon Smith]

I want to be the first person on my block to own a cloned T-Rex. I plan on naming it 'Muffin".

[Gordon Smith]

The interesting thing is, we have had intact, usable genetic material from some extinct mammals (mammoths for certain, and possibly smilodons and giant sloths) for a long time, yet nobody has really attempted to clone them.



Do you give any credibility to the mammoth cloning scenario?

[Hiromi]

The interesting thing is, we have had intact, usable genetic material from some extinct mammals (mammoths for certain, and possibly smilodons and giant sloths) for a long time, yet nobody has really attempted to clone them.

Given that, while this will hopefully provide lots of cool, new information, I wouldn't hold my breath for a Jurassic Park scenario.

The problem is with current cloning technology you need a living tissue sample to extract DNA from as well as a living egg cell from the species to implant the DNA into.

Thats why they used Frogs in Jurassic Park IIRC.

[JeffreyWKramer]

The problem is with current cloning technology you need a living tissue sample to extract DNA from as well as a living egg cell from the species to implant the DNA into.

And I'm betting modern elephant ova are a lot more compatible with mammoth cell nuclei than frog eggs would be with dinosaur cell nuclei.

[JeffreyWKramer]

Do you give any credibility to the mammoth cloning scenario?
Given that nobody has done it yet, despite the existence of multiple examples of well-preserved (via ice) mammoths, I am assuming it must be either extremely difficult or impossible given current technology, but from what little I've looked at the issue, it seems to me mammoth cloning should be at least theoretically a lot more achievable than dino cloning.

[macul]

The interesting thing is, we have had intact, usable genetic material from some extinct mammals (mammoths for certain, and possibly smilodons and giant sloths) for a long time, yet nobody has really attempted to clone them.

Given that, while this will hopefully provide lots of cool, new information, I wouldn't hold my breath for a Jurassic Park scenario.

Don't ruin my fantasies.

[Gordon Smith]

Given that nobody has done it yet, despite the existence of multiple examples of well-preserved (via ice) mammoths, I am assuming it must be either extremely difficult or impossible given current technology, but from what little I've looked at the issue, it seems to me mammoth cloning should be at least theoretically a lot more achievable than dino cloning.

Assuming the mammoth cloning scenario to be feasible, would you recommend attempting it? What are the possible pitfalls of such an experiment?

[Indy24LA]

I've always wanted to ride a T-Rex. I think I could make the 8 second mark before I fall off and get eaten. That's what the Kentucky Derby is missing.

[JeffreyWKramer]

Assuming the mammoth cloning scenario to be feasible, would you recommend attempting it? What are the possible pitfalls of such an experiment?

Good question. Offhand, there are certainly potential problems. The ones which leap to mind are a) ending up with an extremely large and quite possibly difficult-to-control animal, and b) said animal being quite lonely.

I don't know if there are enough extant and potentially-usable mammoth samples from which to derive a potential breeding stock without ending up breeding identical siblings, and all the problems inherent there, but if it were possible, one benefit would be the possibility of reintroducing an extinct species. That would be an amazingly cool thing to do, were it possible, and it would also take care of problem c, above. But even there, there are problems in terms of c) what to do with the species, given it evolved in conditions markedly different from the current ones, and d) we do a crappy enough job of managing some currently-alive species.

Part of me says "go for it", since the possibility of mammoths roaming the world again is a very attractive one on a viscreal level, but there are definitely ethical and practical concerns to consider against doing so.

[Ed Cunard]

Assuming the mammoth cloning scenario to be feasible, would you recommend attempting it? What are the possible pitfalls of such an experiment?

Fucking with the ecosystem, or something.

Like when non-native animals are introduced into a new environment, like... rabbits in Australia? Some kind of fish that eats every other damn thing in the lake (I forget the name.)

But I don't care. I want dinosaurs and mammoths, ethics be damned.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Good question. Offhand, there are certainly potential problems. The ones which leap to mind are a) ending up with an extremely large and quite possibly difficult-to-control animal, and b) said animal being quite lonely.


Damn right it would be lonely...

I seem to remember that other sheep shunned dolly.
Now if sheep can shun another sheep (or shep as I think they should be called in the singular) then I imagine a mammoth ain't gonna get much love, and will resort to playing Bowies "Lonliest Guy" over and over.

Also, doesn't, or didn't Dolly suffer from somthing akin to arthritis for no discernable reason?

Pretty sure cloning's not quite as smooth and ready to go as some scientists seem happy to let people believe.

[Grant]

If they clone a T. Rex I can't help feeling it being a letdown. For one research seems to be pointing in the direction that the Tyrannosaurus was a slow and lazy animal that just scavenged whatever the smaller predators killed.

[tricksterpup]

And I'm betting modern elephant ova are a lot more compatible with mammoth cell nuclei than frog eggs would be with dinosaur cell nuclei.
Yes, but it is so much cooler to be eaten by a let loose rampaging T-Rex. :D

I have also heard of possible cloning of a Tasmanian Tiger as well. I am not sure how they would do it but I remember seeing something on this. But I know there is a magazine offering a reward for any evidence on a live tiger..
http://www.suntimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimesNEW/basket11st/basket11st1111562353.aspx
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=46756

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

If they clone a T. Rex I can't help feeling it being a letdown. For one research seems to be pointing in the direction that the Tyrannosaurus was a slow and lazy animal that just scavenged whatever the smaller predators killed.

We'll just get Steve Irwin to stick his thumb up it's arse and that'll get it really pissed off.

[Grant]

We'll just get Steve Irwin to stick his thumb up it's arse and that'll get it really pissed off.

What if the T. Rex is into it?

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Whatever if the T. Rex is into it?

Either way, science will be served.

[Eumastas]

there are two different kind of rex's 99% of the skletons we found were the vuluture kind which mean they scavanged for food. the other skeleton was the one like in jurassic park. We cant even clone it yet because we cant make clones in test tubes yet they have to have a mother.

[Eumastas]

we should grow them in the middle east just incase they break out. We should aalso grow them in china and korea. JUst to prevent wwIII

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

we should grow them in the middle east just incase they break out. We should aalso grow them in china and korea. JUst to prevent wwIII

Well I was going to question how that's relevant to anything, but then I realised that your outlook on the world is almost pre-historic in it's naievity, and racism.
Shame it's not extinct though.

[Eumastas]

sorry i forgot about jerusalem. Ok evrywhere i said but there. i have nothing against them. in fact my friend goldman's uncle lives there.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

sorry i forgot about jerusalem. Ok evrywhere i said but there. i have nothing against them. in fact my friend goldman's uncle lives there.

Do I care wether you include jerusalem or not?

No.

It doesn't change the racism, nor the stupidty of your statement ie. Arabs are expendable ie lesser people.
Asians should be killed.
Is that about right?

"Your outlook on the world is almost pre-historic in it's naievity, and racism.
Shame it's not extinct though."

[meethraa]

we should grow them in the middle east just incase they break out. We should aalso grow them in china and korea. JUst to prevent wwIII
I just gave you the power of flight.

Go try it out.

[Alex]

However unrealistic it is, everyone who heard this yesterday thought what i did.
Genticly modified human soldiers with T Rex size and strength.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

However unrealistic it is, everyone who heard this yesterday thought what i did.
Genticly modified human soldiers with T Rex size and strength.

Not me man.

I thought "Sweet, I'll be able to get me some more sweet music from Bolan".

Stupid dinosaur stealing a great bands name.

[Naldo]

Sort of adds another nail in the Young Earth Creationist coffin eh?

No more: Well those "fossils" are just hammered out of stone to LOOK like bones.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Sort of adds another nail in the Young Earth Creationist coffin eh?

No more: Well those "fossils" are just hammered out of stone to LOOK like bones.

did anyone seriously try to claim this?

[hulahulk]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7285683/

Jurassic park here we come. More seriously I find this finding incredible.

In a few short years, we could be reading about/seeing/studying actual dino clones. I want a pet Rex. He'll eat the pit bull next door. And my boss.

[Eumastas]

I just gave you the power of flight.

Go try it out.



ok i'm back what a rush thanks for the advice. :D

[Asmith]

However unrealistic it is, everyone who heard this yesterday thought what i did.
Genticly modified human soldiers with T Rex size and strength.

That's just plain odd, Alex. I think most people though like I did: T-Rex steaks!
Finally there's hope for all of us to live out our Fred Flinstone fantasies.

[Alex]

That's just plain odd, Alex. I think most people though like I did: T-Rex steaks!
Finally there's hope for all of us to live out our Fred Flinstone fantasies.
We can't clone creatures simply for food, thats unethical.
And Movie theory dictates the T-Steaks will rise up against their human masters.

[Eumastas]

i thought of t-rex scrambeled eggs. You guys were way off.

[Wonder Bebs]

Screw Jurassic Park! This means I could have something I've always dreamed of having when I was a wee girl and watched the Dino Riders with my older brother: My Very Own Brain Boxed Dinosaur!

MUahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaha! I'd be the terror of the neighbourhood and all would fear and respect me nationwide as Bebs, Lord and Mistress of the Brain Boxed Tyrannosaur. *gigglefits*

[MKTerra]

We can't clone creatures simply for food, thats unethical.Hey, we raise and breed animals for food already, don't we?

[Alex]

Hey, we raise and breed animals for food already, don't we?
They aren't exstinct, its different.
You can't bring an animal back to life just to eat it, you have to use them for entertainment, determine if we can use them for anything worthwhile, and THEN set up farms and eat them.
Theres a system you see...

[Asmith]

We can't clone creatures simply for food, thats unethical.
And Movie theory dictates the T-Steaks will rise up against their human masters.

Pfft! That's ridiculous. It's like saying it's unethical to clone humans as a source of meat.

It's the law of nature: you make it, you eat it!

[Alex]

Pfft! That's ridiculous. It's like saying it's unethical to clone humans as a source of meat.

It's the law of nature: you make it, you eat it!
I personaly don't consider it unethical.
Personaly, i like the idea of cloning humans without heads for organ donation (Then,i can get me a new pancreas! Currently reserved for alcholics!).
However, eating people, thats just ucky.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

I say no to cloning.

It leads to cross-cloning different species.

That leads to Furry fantasies coming true.

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Screw Jurassic Park! This means I could have something I've always dreamed of having when I was a wee girl and watched the Dino Riders with my older brother: My Very Own Brain Boxed Dinosaur!

MUahahahahahahahahahahahahahhaha! I'd be the terror of the neighbourhood and all would fear and respect me nationwide as Bebs, Lord and Mistress of the Brain Boxed Tyrannosaur. *gigglefits*

Bugger Brain boxing.

I say just boxing.

We train 'em to fight in pits, and fight hard.

We also only let them grow in cages so they stay tiny like those japanese trees.

If we do anything with their brains it should be to transplant them into people.
IQ's would shoot up across the net.

[Solaris]

Good question. Offhand, there are certainly potential problems. The ones which leap to mind are a) ending up with an extremely large and quite possibly difficult-to-control animal, and b) said animal being quite lonely.

I don't know if there are enough extant and potentially-usable mammoth samples from which to derive a potential breeding stock without ending up breeding identical siblings, and all the problems inherent there, but if it were possible, one benefit would be the possibility of reintroducing an extinct species. That would be an amazingly cool thing to do, were it possible, and it would also take care of problem c, above. But even there, there are problems in terms of c) what to do with the species, given it evolved in conditions markedly different from the current ones, and d) we do a crappy enough job of managing some currently-alive species.

Part of me says "go for it", since the possibility of mammoths roaming the world again is a very attractive one on a viscreal level, but there are definitely ethical and practical concerns to consider against doing so.


Dang straight. I *still* have dino nightmares, from time to time, from the Jurassic Park movies... especially the second one, where the T-rex was brought back to... L.A.? 'Frisco? Anyway, thinking about bringing back dinosaurs gives me nightmares (literally)... especially the thought of seeing one outside my bedroom window. (Remember the scene where Mr. T-rex was outside the family's home, with the barking dog gone silent and the dog's house hanging from it's mouth by the dog's chainleash? And the little kid preparing to take a picture, and his frozen-with-fear parents are standing in the doorway, telling him not to do it, and he does it anyway? Arrgh. I had SO many nightmares about that scene. I really DO NOT WANT to bring back huge and nasty (or tiny and nasty) predator dinosaurs, and the herbivores wouldn't be much better. Who cares if the brontosaurus is cool-looking, when Mr. Tiny Brain just stepped on you and made you flatter than a pancake?)

Before we go bringing back *any* extinct species (and I mean *ANY*---even one that just went extinct yesterday), we damn sure better have the proper environment for it... and loss of habitat is a very large current contributor to species *going* extinct. Right now we aren't doing so well at preserving the habitats of some endangered species, anyway. And there are others that, frankly, I don't think should have been reintroduced to the wild in the first place... like mountain lions. Unlike wolves, they aren't afraid of people, and they've become a real danger to people who live near the places they've put the cats into. Said cats are very dangerous predators... I'd rather see 'em kept in zoos, or placed on an island somewhere, than put back into places where the habitat isn't large enough/stocked with enough prey for them... and where human development is encroaching, anyway. IMO that program was a really dumb one, because it didn't take into account

1. continuing development and settlement in the areas
2. the migration of the deer population to settled areas, which the cats will follow
3. the cats' utter lack of fear of man, extreme toughness, and complete willingness to go after human prey. Mountain lions pose much more of a threat to people than your average tiger. Tigers rarely prey on humans.

We've done such a poor job with that species (mountain lions, to our own detriment) and with others (to the species detriment, or the detriment of other species when we've "picked this one as special"), that I really don't want to see us messing around right now with trying to bring back *other* ones. Let's wait till we can do it responsibly, heh?

If someone wants to bring back dinosaurs at some point, I say fine: so long as it's on another planet, and any transportation between that world and others is monitored for "stowaway" dinos.

[Grant]

I say no to cloning.

It leads to cross-cloning different species.

That leads to Furry fantasies coming true.

Yeah that's kind of gross. Personally I just want a little midget animal human hybrid to follow me around and dress like me.

[CoffeeStained]

I want to hear about a scientist being eaten.

SCIENTIST:
"Contrary to what was popular theory, we have determined that the Tyrannosaurus Rex is in fact, not a scavenger, not slow, and quite intelligent, really. We have confirmed, though, that it is very big. We are very excited by our findings, one could say we are in a state of extreme agitation over them.

"When it was proposed that the enormous nasal cavities of the T-Rex were to facilitate the cooling of the brain, we were eager to find out if the consequent theory of it's possibly being warm-blooded was true. But apparently it is an evolutionary apparatus designed to SMELL YOU! Where ever you FREAKIN' ARE!!!"

NEWSANCHOR (Bob):
"Very interesting, professer. What impact do you think your findings will have on the scientific community at large?"

SCIENTIST:
"Well, I expect we are all gonna die, Bob."

NEWSANCHOR:
"Fascinating. Speaking of dinosaurs, the Toronto Raptors continue their streak... (sports rambling)"

[FunkyGreenJerusalem]

Yeah that's kind of gross. Personally I just want a little midget animal human hybrid to follow me around and dress like me.

Kermit and his ilk?

I've always wanted to live in a world with muppets.

There's nothing funnier on earth than the scenes in muppets movies where they are walking down the street or riding on bicycles.

Tell me you don't that world.

[Rabid Trekkie]

How was the soft tissue preserved this long? Anyway I wouldn't mind seeing a cloned dinosaur one day. It would put a stop to the stupid "T-Rex was only a scavenger and nothing more" theories that are being put out. And after I clone enough T-Rexs I turn them into cyborg weapons and unleash them on the world! Everyone will bow before the might of my Cyber Rex's!

[Naldo]

did anyone seriously try to claim this?

Oh I've heard even more ludicrous things than that. Any length of logic twisting to make the earth only 6000 years old by these dimwits.

[Phrozen]

The Japanese want to clone a Mastadon. I don't know how they are planning to do it though. In addition, some Japanese Businessman bought a frozen mammoth and cooked it for dinner.

[hulahulk]

The Japanese want to clone a Mastadon. I don't know how they are planning to do it though. In addition, some Japanese Businessman bought a frozen mammoth and cooked it for dinner.


Previously frozen meat is always really tough to eat.

[Rabid Trekkie]

Oh I've heard even more ludicrous things than that. Any length of logic twisting to make the earth only 6000 years old by these dimwits.

Yeah because none of us have an IQ above 30, its a damn wonder we can even feed ourselves.

[Matt]

However, eating people, thats just ucky.

Mmmm, Soylent green...

[cable guy]

The Japanese want to clone a Mastadon. I don't know how they are planning to do it though. In addition, some Japanese Businessman bought a frozen mammoth and cooked it for dinner.

No way.

Someone ate that mammoth they dug up?

I think you're our leg.

[Hiromi]

The Japanese want to clone a Mastadon. I don't know how they are planning to do it though. In addition, some Japanese Businessman bought a frozen mammoth and cooked it for dinner.

This now tops the list of ways people spend a lot of money. Dining on an extinct animal.