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vegeta@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish · 10 months ago

'Closer than people think': Woolly mammoth 'de-extinction' is nearing reality — and we have no idea what happens next

www.livescience.com

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'Closer than people think': Woolly mammoth 'de-extinction' is nearing reality — and we have no idea what happens next

www.livescience.com

vegeta@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.worldEnglish · 10 months ago
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Scientists are getting very close to bringing a few iconic species, like woolly mammoths and dodos, back from extinction. That may not be a good thing.
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  • Nomecks@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    Nothing bad will happen, as long as they spare no expense.

    • Telorand@reddthat.com
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      10 months ago

      It’s all fun and games until you’re being chased down in your Jeep by a dodo.

      • Nomecks@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        The lesson there is: Spare no expense on your IT budget!

        • superkret@feddit.org
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          10 months ago

    • abcd@feddit.org
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      10 months ago

      • Nomecks@lemmy.ca
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        10 months ago

        Your financial problems are not my concern!

    • DominusOfMegadeus@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      And everyone knows not to mess with the raptor fences

    • CosmoNova@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Huh. I never realized the absolute irony of this statement until now.

  • TomMasz@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    The world they lived in is long gone along with the food they ate and the rest of their species. It seems almost cruel to bring them back.

    • Boomer Humor Doomergod@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      It’s not that long gone. There were still mammoths around when the pyramids were built. Plus there’s still huge swaths of tundra and taiga that they could live on, with a lot of the same plants, even if it’s quite a bit warmer.

      • illi@lemm.ee
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        10 months ago

        In the grand scheme of things the pyramids were built relatively recently, but I’d still consider it quite long ago

        • stoly@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Measured in human life it’s long ago. measured at universal scales, it was nothing.

          • superkret@feddit.org
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            10 months ago

            A good measurement for human timescales is the age difference between a child and their grandfather (~50 years, basically one generation of oral tradition).
            The mammoths died out 80 grandfathers ago.

            • stoly@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              That’s an interesting unit of measure for sure. I do get what you’re saying–that’s sort of the limit to where some knowledge can reach.

    • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Not advocating for restoring the mammoth, but this is a dangerous line of argument.

      With climate change and ongoing mass extinctions, many current species are or will soon be in the same situation that re-introduced mammoths would be—and you could use the same argument to say that trying to preserve them is cruel so we should kill off any current species facing environmental stress.

    • Paraponera_clavata@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      They were here pretty recently, their food is still here. It was cruel that we extincted them.

    • BirdyBoogleBop@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      10 months ago

      Well pumpkins and avocados still exists at least and apparently they were grazers.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Nah. It’s still the same place. They died out within the time frame of completely modern humans.

    • Ænima@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      It’s worse when you consider the state of the world and the warming. They’d have about 20 sq\km of land capable of supporting them and they’d have to share it with those psychos, polar bears.

  • vegeta@lemmy.worldOP
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    10 months ago

    I hope they have put a substantial amount of thought into potential problems that could arise. (Not that it will actually be like JP)

  • SplashJackson@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    I hope whatever species that comes after us doesn’t bring us back

    • samus12345@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      No! They did it! They blew it up!

      And then the apes blew up their society too. How could this happen?

      And then the birds took over and ruined their society.

      And then the cows. And then…I don’t know, is that a slug, maybe?

      Noooo!

      • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        This is hilarious.

  • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
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    10 months ago

    But why? We have no iceage anymore.

    • Zron@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Obviously for the local petting zoo

      Plus, mammoth burgers

      • samus12345@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

  • theDutchBrother@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    “Your Scientists Were So Preoccupied With Whether Or Not They Could, They Didn’t Stop To Think If They Should”

    • samus12345@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      “Life, uh, finds a way.”

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Hope they pay their IT guy well.

  • ME5SENGER_24@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    #bringbackthesabretooth

    • Tudsamfa@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      There are about 2000 wild tiger left, I found this article from 2011 saying that they might be extinct in the wild by 2030.

      So there might be 2000 ecological niches for smilodon to fill in 5 years. We better hurry then.

    • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Pass…

  • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I remember reading about this in 5th grade. 25 fucking years ago. I’ll believe it when I see it…

    • isolatedscotch@discuss.tchncs.de
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      10 months ago

      just like nuclear fusion, it was 10 years away 10 years ago, it’s 10 years away now and it will be 10 years away 10 years from now

      • RecluseRamble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        10 months ago

        But now we have AI! Both and many more problems will be solved any time now…

        • Noodle07@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          You know what AI needs the most long term? Nuclear fusion…

        • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          Fun fact: faster computers allowed tokamak reactors to get a net positive power output, because it allowed them to quickly optimize the magnetic containment field.

      • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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        What’s happening with the fusion then?

  • Guy Ingonito@reddthat.com
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    Everything outside of cities should be a nature reserve and we should clone extinct megafauna to put in zoos

    • shottymcb@lemm.ee
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      Enjoy eating rocks, I guess?

      • Guy Ingonito@reddthat.com
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        10 months ago

        Vertical farms to reduce wasteful agriculture practices

    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
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      Maybe in 100 years, with how underfunded research in vertical farming is.

    • Teppichbrand@feddit.org
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      10 months ago

      Project Half-Earth

    • njordomir@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      If we could just remove every parking lot and replace all major roads with trains, we would free up so much mammoth habitat.

  • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    we have no idea what happens next

    Make a variant with multiple butts

    • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Or make is exactly the size on the picture, where the mammoth fits in a petri dish.

      • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        but with five butts

  • Boomer Humor Doomergod@lemmy.world
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    I have an idea: Mammoth burgers

    • 7U5K3N@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      Worked in the docudrama “the Flintstones”

  • Tudsamfa@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago
    • Step 1: acquire genetic material
    • Step 2: supplement material with closely related extant species <- We are here
    • Step 3: Get an egg cell with your Frankenstein-DNA to survive and divide
    • Step 4: Produce a healthy baby
    • Step 5: Get a small population in a Zoo/Park
    • Step 6: have a permanent wild population in a specific area
    • Step 7: have enough of those areas to declare repopulation a success

    Is fixating on the mammoths here first-world centrism? The article mentions 4 other species that have way better chances. Also, given how far we are from actual wild mammoths, that “it can solve climate change” argument is just wrong the way it’s been presented.

    • superkret@feddit.org
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      It’s mostly people-with-money-centric.

  • Bookmeat@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Poachers. Poachers are next.

    • Noodle07@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      We bringing poachers to extinction?

  • Alwaysnownevernotme@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I hope it’s pet pygmy mamoths

    • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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      10 months ago

      https://the-avocado.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/ameridad-mammoth-1.png

  • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    “We have no idea what happens next.”

    Scientists: we know almost exactly what will happen.

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