Return of the Neanderthals?

[n2doc]

If we can resurrect them through fossil DNA, should we?
By William Saletan
Posted Monday, Nov. 24, 2008, at 7:57 AM ET

Here's the next question in the evolution debate: We know roughly how the sequence of life ran forward in time. What about running it backward? How would you feel about rewinding human evolution to a species that's almost like us, but not quite?

Last week in Nature, scientists reported major progress in sequencing the genome of woolly mammoths. They reconstructed it from two fossilized hair samples. One was 20,000 years old; the other was 65,000 years old. Now, according to Nicholas Wade of the New York Times, biologists are discussing "how to modify the DNA in an elephant's egg so that after each round of changes it would progressively resemble the DNA in a mammoth egg. The final-stage egg could then be brought to term in an elephant mother."

Cool, huh? But that's not the half of it. Wade notes:

The full genome of the Neanderthal, an ancient human species probably driven to extinction by the first modern humans that entered Europe some 45,000 years ago, is expected to be recovered shortly. If the mammoth can be resurrected, the same would be technically possible for Neanderthals.

more:

http://www.slate.com/id/2205310/?GT1=38001

[zazen]

1. since it's "ethical" to experiment on upper primates, we could subject 'em to torturous stress tests

except that'd be their life anyway, being born with for intents and purposes a host of disabilities that no one in the entire population shares, who would answer that stock psychiatric question, "do you ever feel like you aren't a part of the human race?," with an honest YES.

But considerations like that have never stopped the triumph of human curiosity over morality or common sense.

PS: I love learning about Neandertals, and the whole debate about interbreeding to bring that one allele into the population 30some thousand years ago. But bringing one back intact seems inordinately cruel.

[HamdenRice]

2. What a dumb post. They already did this, why report it now, like it's "going to" happen???

What is it with DUers not acknowledging some members of our community???


:hi:

Just kidding

[Phoonzang]

3. To use Internetese....Neanderthals were Epic Fail, so why bring them back?

I don't have any moral problems with it, but I don't want to hear the whining from luddites on the left and Jesusians on the right. Bringing back extinct animals is much less troublesome. Tasmanian Tiger!

[Enthusiast]

6. Just found this post.

Neanderthals were NOT "epic fail". They were a very successful species. They ran into an improved version that probably outcompeted them and may have even eaten them as a food resource. At any rate, without modern humans coming onto the scene, there is little doubt, Neanderthals would still be alive and well. Epic fail, no way.

[supernova]

4. No, just no

I think we can learn a great deal about them from their DNA in a petri dish.

If we bring back the human beings, we will have to wrestle with the idea that those singular individuals will be alone in the world, with only their more modern counterparts for company/interaction. We would never be able to let them live as full human beings again, I don't think.

[Indenturedebtor]

5. No. If you want to see a neanderthal go to the DMV. n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. Actually, some think that neanderthals didn't exactly go extinct so much as

interbreed with other human populations.

[frogmarch]

8. Fascinating!

I suppose that before Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer is carried out, the enucleated host (Homo sapiens) egg should be injected with cytoplasm from the donor (Homo neandethalensis) egg - or donor mitochondrial genes that code for proteins added to the donor nucleus. This might help make the mix more compatible. Five percent might not sound like a lot of difference between the genomes of H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis, but it is.

I'm not sure how I feel about resurrecting Neanderthals. I'd hate for them to be regarded, and treated, as mere curiosities.