Re: Bringing Back The Mammoth (again)

[Phillip Bigelow <bigelowp@juno.com>]

On Wed, 16 Aug 2006 10:01:42 -0700 (PDT) Glen Ledingham
<glenled@yahoo.com> writes:
> 
> 
> --- "Richard W. Travsky" <rtravsky@uwyo.edu> wrote:
> 
> > On Tue, 15 Aug 2006, Dora Smith wrote:
> > > A neanderthal hybrid?   At least we'd find out if
> > that's possible, and if the 
> > > offspring can reproduce.
> > 
> > Yes, but who would they get to volunteer? 
> 
> Considering that the person most likely to produce a
> viable offspring is the H. sapiens with the most
> Neanderthal characteristics, successfully volunteering
> might not confer great honor.


Female professional wrestlers could probably live with the stigma.  ;-)

Of course, both the process (insemination through gestation) and identity
of the surrogate mother could be kept secret.  The story would be
released to the media only after a successful, (and more importantly,
healthy) birth has occurred.  The surrogate's name would never have to be
released.  Failures would probably never been reported.

I know nothing about the current U.S. laws on this kind of thing.  We DO
insert human genes into plants and into bacteria, so the current federal
laws (whatever they are) probably aren't particularly strict.  But the
religious Fundies would have a field day with such a program.

<pb>
--
"If you are traveling into the future in a time machine, and you pass a
person from the future who is traveling into the past, it's probably a
good idea to avoid eye contact." - Jack Handey