Cloning Neanderthals in the offing?

[kamaz]

However, he now says he only believes this is a topic that should be now discussed:

Most likely the journalist made an unjustified interpolation of his words.

Here's why: you need an authorization from the board of ethics to perform any experiment involving humans or animals. And I doubt any board of ethics would agree to this experiment (use of a human subject, implantation of foreign genetic material in subject's uterus, which borders on creating hybrids, unclear human/animal status of the Neanderthal, high risk to test subjects, questionable scientific value of the experiment). Boards of ethics are reluctant to approve experiments on chimps, so it's highly unlinkely they'd agree to anything involving neanderthals. (NB: it's sometimes easier to do a human study than an animal study, because humans can give informed consent, while animals cannot.) The scientist must surely know all that, but the journalist doesn't not have to.

 

[wehaveaproblem]

But I wouldn't discount Neanderthals: who knows, they could adapt. They could even surprise us (checks shotgun).

Give them a taser or some traffic to play with, that should be fun.

Although...

Why is it men attempt these thing just because they can? The older I get, the less faith I have that men will ever figure it out. They will continue to take the wrong path every single time they have the choice. It is so sad.

It is not just about "because we can", it's also about scientific discovery, exploration and understanding, of both the technology to do it and our ancestral genealogy. Although, doing things because we can has lead to many important discoveries, so it shouldn't be underrated as a motivation...
But like Ghostrider says, what if they could adapt? what if we discover just how capable Neanderthals are and it shines light on why they died out, or why our line didn't? What if through their cloning we discovered the way to safely grow replacement organs for transplant, or found they had a genetic immunity to a certain disease which we could exploit...?
I agree, this sort of thing is always going to be an ethical/moral maze, but there are legitimate and justifiable reasons why science should be exploring such things imo.

 

[Graham2001]

This is starting to get interesting:

BOSTON (Reuters) - After spending the weekend reading blog posts claiming that he was seeking an "extremely adventurous female human" to bear a cloned Neanderthal baby - which was news to him - Harvard geneticist George Church said it may be time for society to give some thought to scientific literacy.

http://news.yahoo.com/neanderthal-cloning-chatter-highlights-scientific-illiteracy-051317850.html

 

[RGClark]

This is starting to get interesting:

http://news.yahoo.com/neanderthal-cloning-chatter-highlights-scientific-illiteracy-051317850.html

The problem really is with the journalists and headline writers who took the Der Spiegel article and it took it to mean he intended to do this experiment himself.
If the new stories had reported what he really said it would not have created nearly as much controversy.


Bob Clark

 

[RGClark]

Scientists create complete genetic map of a Neanderthal from a TOE - and put it online for free.
By Damien Gayle
PUBLISHED: 09:52 EST, 20 March 2013 | UPDATED: 12:26 EST, 20 March 2013

Scientists from Germany's Max Planck Institute sequenced genome from toe bone found in southern Siberia. New techniques allowed them to sequence every position in the genome 50 times over for greater accuracy. They hope it will help answer questions about our own genetic history and how we're related to Neanderthals.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ome-time-makes-available-scientists-FREE.html

Bob Clark

 

[stevcast]

Cloning Neanderthal

One thing that is a given...a government will pretty much do what it wants until it gets caught. I don't know about all governments, but as far as the U.S. is concerned, it engaged in L.S.D. studies (which may have been consentual), syphilis studies on African American males, virology studies on the U.S. population at large in the 50's etc.,etc.,etc..
I would bet my bottom dollar on the fact that right now, a government funded lab somewhere is engaging in ethically questionable activities that are not only being hidden from the American public, but from the congress and the president. That is the beauty of a very large government...it is easier to hide activities that aren't exactly ethical or legal for that matter.
Bring back Neanderthals? They have been with us the entire time of our existence on this planet. Right now, they are in Washington D.C. creating a deficit that we may not recover from...they are in positions of authority in the military, in research labs, in law enforcement. You can't always tell who they are by their appearance, but their activities will give them away (if you can uncover them). :lol:

 

[jedidia]

I too would find this hard to justify ethicaly... I mean, if you clone a normal human, that probably brings along a few legal problems, but those can be solved. Cloning a Neanderthal, you create a creature that is pretty close to a human, but will not have an environment in which to function. It would basically mean to consciously create a sub-human to do... what exactly? slave labor? put him in a zoo? study him and then get rid of him? I'm really pretty horified of creating anything so closely human that then gets labeled as a property.