Is There Hope For The Wooly Mammoth?

Japanese scientists have successfully cloned mice who's bodies where frozen for as long as 16 years and have postulated that the technique could be used to resurrect mammoths and other extinct species.

"Cloning animals by nuclear transfer provides an opportunity to preserve endangered mammalian species," they wrote.

"However, it has been suggested that the 'resurrection' of frozen extinct species (such as the woolly mammoth) is impracticable, as no live cells are available, and the genomic material that remains is inevitably degraded," they said.

Unlike other cloning attempts the mice used in these experiments where not cryogenicly frozen which posed a unique challenge as freezing causes cells to burst and can damage the DNA inside.

CBC Story.

Sept. 11 Search Dog To Be Cloned

A Halifax, Nova Scotia based search-and-rescue dog that helped recover the last survivor from the World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11th, 2001 has been selected through an essay competition to be cloned, winning the title of the world's "most clone-worthy" dog. Trakr a 15 year old German shepherd owned by former Halifax police officer James Symington, now lives in Los Angeles, and suffers from a degenerative neurological disorder and no longer has the use of his back legs. California-based, BioArts International, choose Trakr for cloning based on an essay submitted by Symington. "We received many very touching submissions to our contest," BioArts CEO Lou Hawthorne said in a release. "But Trakr's story blew us away. His many remarkable capabilities were proven beyond all doubt in our nation's darkest hour — and we view the work of cloning him as a great honour." I personally have mixed emotions about cloning but in this case I think they've made a great choice! CBC story here.