It’s been a while since I blogged about some cool DNA/evolution stuff, and some new shit has come to light… man. Back in the summer we got news of a (near) perfectly preserved baby mammoth that lived 37,000 years ago discovered by the son of a reindeer farmer back in May 2007. What if it could walk and breathe again?

The mammoth: An ancient member of the elephant family with enormous curved tusks that went extinct about four and a half millenia ago. Well, nowadays the term “extinct” is challenged by scientists as something that no longer represents the ENDING of a creature’s time to reign, but as a challenge to reverse engineer species back into existence!

An article on the Science Daily website (Nov 20, 2008) unloaded some goody-goods on me concerning a team of scientists at Penn State are the first to report the genome-wide sequence of an extinct animal… you guessed it–that of the mighty woolly mammoth!

I did some digging on this story and it starts way back in 2005. Initial funding for this study was provided by McMaster University, The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and Penn State University. The project also involved paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History (USA) and researchers from Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. [Source]

During this first go-at-it the team’s research was based on 28,000 year old bones that were exceptionally well-preserved in Siberian permafrost. They were able extract about 50% of the mammoth’s DNA from its jaw bone and then compared it to the modern African elephant.

Jumping to June 2008, a new hypothesis came from the team: One suggesting that the mammoth had split into two separate groups about one million years ago. Studies before this research had analyzed only short segments of the DNA of extinct species, this new study generated and compared 18 complete genomes of the extinct woolly mammoth.

This achievement is based on an earlier discovery by the same team in 2006 that revealed ancient DNA survives much better in hair than in any other tissue investigated so far. This discovery makes hair a more powerful and efficient source of DNA for studying the genome sequences of extinct animals. [Source]

Moving on along to the most recent news out of this determined team! They sequenced four billion DNA bases (the size of the modern-day African elephant’s genome) using next-generation DNA-sequencing instruments and a novel approach that reads ancient DNA highly efficiently. The team used a draft version of the African elephant’s genome, which currently is being generated by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The issue that remains now is clearing out the DNA that could belongs to other organisms, like bacteria and fungi, from the surrounding environment that had contaminated the sample. Only 3.3 billion are currently assigned to the mammoth genome.

Only after the genome of the African elephant has been completed will we be able to make a final assessment about how much of the full woolly-mammoth genome we have sequenced. — Webb Miller, Penn State professor of biology and of computer science and engineering, one of the project leaders. [Source]

The studies going on here have more to do about learning what possible diseases might have pushed along the mammoth’s extinction then to actually build the tools to bring one back. It’d be pure deception to believe that the future possibilities AREN’T there. This topic has come up with the much more recently extinct Tasmanian tiger, and much like Alfred Hitchcock’s Ninja Cat, slowly but surely, it’ll be right in your face.

By deciphering this genome we could, in theory, generate data that one day may help other researchers to bring the woolly mammoth back to life by inserting the uniquely mammoth DNA sequences into the genome of the modern-day elephant. This would allow scientists to retrieve the genetic information that was believed to have been lost when the mammoth died out, as well as to bring back an extinct species that modern humans have missed meeting by only a few thousand years. — Stephan C. Schuster, Penn State professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and the project’s other leader. [Source]

Biologists could reconstruct an extinct species by figuring out the exact DNA differences between it and its closest living relatives. The cell could be converted into an embryo and brought to term by an elephant, a project he estimated would cost some $10 million. [right hand pinkie to the corner of my right lip!]

There are talks on 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, and mammoths might once again roam the Siberian steppes. [Source]

If this process is confirmed to work it could theoretically be used to bring back the Neanderthals–except the moral and ethical implications would be another Humpty Dumpty wall to climb over.

A list of possible holdups in the process of awesomeness and this teams ability to at least TRY and side-wind them [Source]:

1. Ancient DNA is always shredded into tiny pieces, seemingly impossible to analyze; a new generation of DNA decoding machines use tiny pieces as their starting point–his team has two.
2. ancient DNA in bone, the usual source, is heavily contaminated with bacterial DNA; this team has discovered that hair is a much purer source of the host’s DNA, with the keratin serving to seal it in and largely exclude bacteria.
3. the DNA of living cells can be modified only very laboriously and usually at one site at a time; this team is in discussion with George Church, a well-known genome technologist at Harvard Medical School, about a new method Dr. Church has invented for modifying some 50,000 genomic sites at a time.

My final thoughts are actually a reaction to quotes by “leading scientists” concerning the possibility of spending $10 million dollars to try to resurrect the woolly mammoth.

This is as close as we’ve got to the complete genome - the blueprint - for an extinct animal. If you’d told me a few years ago that we would already be this far, I would have laughed at you. [The money would be better spent on keeping living animals safe from extinction.] — Ian Barnes from Royal Holloway, University of London, UK [Source]

We currently don’t have the right tools - such as plasmids to deliver the genes - to make any genetic changes within elephants, let alone make the many accurate variations you would need to reconstruct the mammoth. This is a very distant dream. — Michael Hofreiter from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany [Source]

A wishful-thinking experiment with no realistic chance for success. — Rudolph Jaenisch, a biologist at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge

Really?! I find it absurd to think it isn’t worth $10 million to once again look in wonder at, not only a millennia extinct creature, but marvel at the possibility of the human’s tenacity to overcome “impossibilities”. The modern automobile, planes, the atomic bomb, Tom Cruise, the phone, the internet, LANDING ON FRIGGIN MARS!!! All these things were thought impossible at one time or another, no? yes? OF COURSE! But they still happened didn’t they?

They happened because humans decided that it was their right to screw with things and PROVE that they CAN!

Ten million… pft… that’s how much Paris Hilton probably makes a year on royalties from her green tinted sex tape videos…

I just posted a new blog entry on The Green Rocket (my “green side”) about a giant tortoise that might be brought back from extinction thanks to advances in DNA documentation. Hopefully, with a financially supported directive, biologists can reverse engineer the remaining hybrid species stumbling about on the island of Floreana in a effort breed the original extinct species once again.

As cool as I thought this story was–and with a little hope that it was actually more along the lines of the Tasmanian Tiger story released months ago–that isn’t the reason why I am re-posting about it here on my personal blog. No, no, folks, the coolest part of this tale happened when I published the story on TGR and checked the live site to make sure all was well.

I was presented with a Google ad that was nothing but a banner with the freakin’ TURTLES on it!!! Well, Rapheal in any case… (not the point)! Awesome or what? Thank you Google for making my day!

I did a Lowdown on Cloning way back in the day that mentioned the “spider goats” being developed by Nexia Biotechnlogoies (here in Canada—woot!); a goat that produces spider silk in its milk that when woven into, say, a bullet proof vest, is actually tougher than steel.

It seems the transgenic research and development groups haven’t stopped there! From the Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences of the Estonian University of Life Sciences (man that’s a mouth full) we get the “Golden Calf”; a bovine able to produce insulin in its cow milk!

It doesn’t stop there, the technology behind this development can actually have the transgenic cow produce other hormones and antibodies in its milk—like antibodies for people suffering from cancer or rheumatism. Imagine that! This Golden Calf development, if proven successful, can provide the miracles humanity could worship over with transcendent song, sexual dance and festivities—

Oh shit… wait a minute that didn’t turn out so well in the bible, did it?

Ignore that last part.

Professors Sulev Kõks and Ülle Jaakma, the leads on the project hope to see this <whisper>Golden Calf</whisper> in production as early as 2010. Think about this: They state that producing one cow capable of this milky medicinal marvel is 30 to 40 times cheaper and more effective than current methods. One of these “normal” calves, valued at half a million USD, eating grass all peaceful-like in a field could theoretically produce 10% of the WORLD’s insulin market, which is valued at $10 billion USD!

ONE COW PEOPLE!

I can see the commercial adoption of this biological alternative to substance manufacturing becoming the new trend in the next century. Why produce stuff in labs with man labour when you can let it produce itself and then just harvest it? Many jobs could be lost—but then again, who’s going to take care of the new breed of cows?

I just got hit with the silly notion that future farmers are going to have to have some sort of Sciences degree to scale in the farming industry… crazy thoughts… crazy thoughts…

Original Image (Flickr CC-By): JelleS

It’s interesting how in such a short period the Montauk Monster drew so much internet hoo-haa that Dr.Pepper/Snapple jumped on board of the craze with their own twist to the hype.

That twist was to USE IT in a new marketing tactic. My opinion? One word: Brilliant. The brilliant part of it all wasn’t their quick-to-react grasp of how viral marketing works; it was their ability to react with an OFFICIAL press release about it!

Press Release: Venom Energy Drink Offers Bounty for the Capture of a Live ‘Montauk Monster’

Venom, the piercing energy drink that strikes back, promises a lifetime supply of product and a corporate monster-hunting sponsorship to anyone man enough to subdue and capture the (presumably) ferocious, untamable Montauk Monster

PLANO, Texas, July 31 /PRNewswire/ — Dedicated to enabling the most thrill-seeking conquests known to man or beast, Venom energy drink is offering free product for life and a corporate monster-hunting sponsorship to the first person badass enough to capture a live Montauk Monster.

Was it a de-shelled turtle? A chupacabra? A manticore? No one knows for sure, and the mystery of the grotesque sea-beast that washed ashore yesterday morning in Montauk, N.Y. remains a mystery. While vacationing Hamptonites recoiled with fright and the Internet exploded with speculation, the team behind Venom mobilized for action, realizing that this was the chance for true adventure that its thrill-seeking customers have been waiting for.

“This quest isn’t for the faint of heart. Google the thing and you’ll see what I’m talking about. That beak could shred a bottle of Venom,” said Chanda Rhodes, brand manager for Venom. “We bet it is going to put up a pretty big fight. It’s going to take a lot of energy and a huge set of cojones to bring it in alive. That’s why we’re guaranteeing the badass who can do it a lifetime supply of piercing energy … in a bottle.”

As a consultant to this quest, Loren Coleman, director of the International Cryptozoology Museum and Cryptomundo blogger said, “I would advise Montauk Monster hunters to use great caution getting close to this cryptid, and to wear thick gloves.”

The hooked beak had Coleman mumbling, “You may need a bigger boat,” over and over.

Rhodes also reiterated that the bounty would not be awarded unless the creature is brought back alive. “We don’t care how you do it. Nunchucks, robots, plasma grenades - just make sure it’s still breathing. No disintegrations.”

For more information about the beast and how Venom can help you summon the courage and energy to answer this challenge, visit CaptureTheBeast.blogspot.com.

With a Montauk Monster mascot in the header of their blogspot site saying “All your beach are belong to us” how can anyone say they didn’t get this marketing campaign right?! They’ve got fanboys giggling everywhere I’m sure. It’s a little “geek trivia” that I won’t explain in this blog post. If you want to know the importance of that line, you need to work up your Google-fu! [Oh fine, fine... sheesh - If it still makes no sense to you: Let it go]

The design of the blogspot site is terrible–but it doesn’t matter! It’s more important that it IS terrible. The knee-slapping increases with the noobishness factor.

In conclusion… I’m going to go drink a Dr.Pepper now.

Developers have created the first artificial self-reproducing robot! It can “print” out replicas of its body parts. Those parts then need to by human assembled, but that’s a good start I’d say!

This is increadibly awesome news! The best part about it all is that they are releasing this self-replicating robot FOR FREE like Linux and Firefox! It doesn’t make sense how they’ll make their profit to compensate the time, effort and likely money that’ve gone into making this thing funtional on a distribution level.

RepRap is short for replicating rapid-prototyper and employs a technique called ‘additive fabrication’.

The machine works like a printer, but rather than squirting ink onto paper, it puts down thin layers of molten biodegradable plastic which solidify. These layers are built up to make three-dimensional objects.

RepRap has, so far, been capable of making everyday plastic goods such as door handles, sandals and coat hooks. Now, the machine has also succeeded in copying all its own 3D-printed parts.

The fact that you can redesign models to your liking and then have this bot 3D-print that object makes it all the cooler adding TRUE individuality to the whole share-freely model.

Meanwhile, others are working to give robots their independence by allowing them to get power from “food” such as carrots and compost. Prof Chris Melhuish’s team at Bristol Robots Laboratory UK came up with Ecobot II - which can eat dead flies or plant matter, such as apples. “The robot uses the oxygen in air rather than exotic chemicals - so you could stretch a point by saying it breathes too. ”

The Bristol team is now working on a robot that can “poo” - remove its waste material - though Prof Melhuish says “we still have some way to go.”

…and why am I excited about technology that has robots eating and pooing? Who cares! Its figgin sweet is all I can say. One step closer to robots being “alive” enough to create moral complications: In my lifetime, PLEASE, PLEASE!