DNA pioneer: Cloning a Neanderthal would require "adventurous" woman

[Jazzy]

Like a storyline pulled from the movie Jurassic Park, a professor at Harvard University has outlined steps for cloning a long-extinct Neanderthal baby. One's first question may be, Why would you want to do that? And, more intriguingly, Who would carry the offspring?



In a recent interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel, Harvard University genetics professor George Church, 58, says we may soon be able to clone a Neanderthal by using technology that is rapidly developing. Church's research in the 1980s laid the groundwork for genome sequencing. He tells the magazine the chance of a Neanderthal clone in his lifetime depends on a hell of a lot of things, but I think so.



In describing the process in which a Neanderthal clone would be created, Church tells Der Spiegel:



The first thing you have to do is to sequence the Neanderthal genome, and that has actually been done. The next step would be to chop this genome up into, say, 10,000 chunks and then synthesize these. Finally, you would introduce these chunks into a human stem cell. If we do that often enough, then we would generate a stem cell line that would get closer and closer to the corresponding sequence of the Neanderthal. We developed the semi-automated procedure required to do that in my lab. Finally, we assemble all the chunks in a human stem cell, which would enable you to finally create a Neanderthal clone.



Two major hurdles would stand in Church's way: Cloning is illegal in many countries, and the search for, in his words, an extremely adventurous female human to serve as a surrogate mother would no doubt be daunting.

Full article



I'm adventurous but even I have to say no thanks to this one.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[DrLeftover]

This is EXACTLY how humankind was created according to Zecharia Sitchin (1920 - 2010).



No.



I mean: this is EXACTLY how homo sapiens were created from existing homo erectus according to Sitchin.

 

[Evil Eye]

If they search long enough and offer enough money they could probably find someone to do that for them...

But I'm not sure it would be entirely ethical to revive, what might well be, a sentient being for the sake of research.

 

[wirelessguru1]

Well, I already have another thread here on this Neanderthal Jurassic Park issue, but maybe they should use a sheep instead...

 

[Evil Eye]

but maybe they should use a sheep instead...

Probably wouldn't work. Probably.

 

[Raven]

I think this begs the question. Mankind has evolved from this. Why do we need to go back on ourselves?

 

[Evil Eye]

Why do we need to go back on ourselves?

For the same reason people study history?