By Alice Kirby
“It’s hard to say that something will never ever be possible,” says Savante Paabo of the Max Planck Institutel for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and it’s easy to believe with the recent advances in gene technology.
In November 2008, geneticists published the near complete DNA sequence of the Woolly Mammoth, raising the question whether or not once extinct animals can be brought back to life. Presently technology is not advanced enough to do so, but with the developments we have seen in the last 50 years in relation to making humans, fixing inherited diseases and cloning mammals we are sure to one day reach this possibility.
In order to determine the genetic code for any species; scientists need access to a preserved strand of DNA. Genetic information does not survive for more than one million years, ruling out the dinosaurs. It is only really worth studying a specimen if it less than 100 000 years old. Another factor that makes it difficult to find a preserved strand is that as soon as an animal dies, the DNA contained in its flesh if left untouched is destroyed by sunshine and bacteria. Only DNA that is preserved has a chance of being replicated.
Scientists remain optimistic about the possibility of bringing back once extinct animals, and have decided on a list of 10 extinct creatures that one day might be brought back to life. We will just have to wait and see.
See original article:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126905.000-ten-extinct-beasts-that-could-walk-the-earth-again.html
