Geneticist seeks woman to help make a cloned cave baby

[NanuqoftheNorth]

GenomeWeb caught what must be an interesting Q&A with George Church in Germany’s Spiegel Online (I can’t personally attest to the original story as it is behind a paywall). The Harvard Medical School geneticist is quoted as saying that eventually, an “adventurous female human” will be needed to be the surrogate mother for the first Neanderthal baby in some 30,000 years.

This isn’t the first time Church has talked publically about cloning a Neanderthal, or at least a near-Neanderthal. In 2009, when the Neanderthal genome was first reported, the New York Times described a scenario in which a current day human genome could be tweaked into the “Neanderthal equivalent” with tools of molecular biology. Eventually, this could lead to a Neanderthal-like embryo in need of a surrogate mother.

While the idea of reviving Neanderthals may sound farfetched, take for example the work of biologists to clone endangered or extinct non-human animals (see “Stem-Cell Engineering Offers a Lifeline to Endangered Species”). In 2009, the extinct bucardo, a subspecies Spanish ibex, was cloned from a frozen skin sample. The newborn died immediately due to respiratory failure, but its birth suggests that resurrecting extinct species may be possible. http://t.now.msn.com/george-church-says-human-woman-could-bear-neanderthal-baby

[toldozer]

Humans haven't really changed, technology has. Idiots. If we had evolved there would still be some remnants of a lesser species, yet there is not.

[Zod]

Humans haven't really changed, technology has. Idiots. If we had evolved there would still be some remnants of a lesser species, yet there is not.

Aren't some babies born with a tail sometimes?

[pstall]

Falcon fans are a lesser species

[Doyle]

He/she will immediately be the new Geico spokesperson.

[Guest]

This can't be considered anything but a bad idea.

[Jase]

science in the hands of the morally bereft. :(

So let's just skip to dinosaurs already, shall we?

[g5jamz]

What would be the purpose of this?

Would we treat this "human" as something we'd put in a cage and treat as a chimp?

There are a lot of philosophical questions to be answered.

[Guest]

What would be the purpose of this?

Would we treat this "human" as something we'd put in a cage and treat as a chimp?

There are a lot of philosophical questions to be answered.

Keep it in a cave. Cave baby.

[PhillyB]

it's my understanding that neandertals are morphologically different from modern homo sapiens but not significantly different cognitively (their brains being, on average, larger than homo sapiens.) so I'd assume it could live a normal life.

G5 is right though, lots of complicated philosohical questions to consider here. I hope the researchers have adequately addressed them.

[SZ James (banned)]

nvm

[thatlookseasy]

Humans haven't really changed, technology has. Idiots. If we had evolved there would still be some remnants of a lesser species, yet there is not.

I dont think you understand how evolution works

[toldozer]

I dont think you understand how evolution works

Inform me.

[88 Bronco]

Inform me.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+does+evolution+work