Scientist seeks surrogate mother for Neanderthal baby

reply to post by caladonea

After reading the OP in this thread...I thought what about the baby...it needs love, nurturing and caring. If this scientist succeeds at this; I feel so sorry for that baby; I am concerned that it may not be loved.

Exactly. This is part of my own thinking. The motives are 100% selfish.

Also...why does he want to bring back the neanderthal species?

Being a scientist, I'm sure his motives are from a scientific perspective. Curiosity, study, learning. Certainly not for the well being of the subject in the experiment.

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff


You couldn't pay me enough.

That is just gross and inhumane

reply to post by Cinrad

As in the British monarchy? Well not lab rats but constantly scrutinized by the media, every move watched etc.

Yes. But worse. More like "The Truman Show".

reply to post by antonia


that is still up in the air. Some people argue that a dolphin is dumber than a gold fish based only brain structure. In other words a mechanical analysis of the parts....

others, psychologists and people who can accurately measure intelligence, if anyone can, say intelligence is directly related to brain size...

www.news-medical.net...

Albert Einstein had a larger part of the brain that handles mathematical skills (parietal lobe).

Scientists are currently interested in the possibility that physical differences in brain structure could determine different abilities. One part of the operculum called Broca's area plays an important role in speech production. To compensate, the inferior parietal lobe was 15 percent wider than normal. The inferior parietal region is responsible for mathematical thought, visuospatial cognition, and imagery of movement.

[ http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Albert_Einstein's_brain ]

Personally I think this is horrible, first why bring back something that is extinct for a reason! and second what mother would want to give birth to a child and let it be poked and prodded for scientific experimental purposes, what kind of life is this poor child going to have. Its cruel and I'm sick of these scientists always wanting to play "The Creator" role.

Sure its interesting, but not interesting enough to bring something back that's been gone for many years. Our lives revolve and move on for a reason and it should be left alone!

reply to post by GLontra

A Neanderthal is equal to any modern human in many ways.

Treating this person as a lab rat would be the same as treating any human being as a lab rat.

You should watch the video "IknowStuff" posted: Neanderthal

Scientists and doctors aren't above treating humans as lab rats, as we all know. So treating a resurrected Neanderthal as such will likely pose no problem for them.

I myself can see the excitement in something like this. But my ethical side tells me it isn't right. Just because we can, doesn't mean we should.

Originally posted by Klassified
reply to post by Cinrad

 

As in the British monarchy? Well not lab rats but constantly scrutinized by the media, every move watched etc.

Yes. But worse. More like "The Truman Show".

I don't even believe it would get that far if this was given the ok and it was done successfully.

We would get a small nugget of closely guarded information every now and again about the test subject and that would be that.

reply to post by skitzspiricy

Agreed. I wasn't talking about the information we would get. Just the kind of life the subject would have.

Frankly, this story sounds like it's straight from the National Enquirer or Sunday Sport.

Is there enough Neanderthal DNA really?

Is it even feasible?

Anyway, they wont want for suitable candidates.

So, if it's feasible, we should be hearing about the birth of the first modern-day Neanderthal child in about a year.

If we don't, then it begins to smell of hoax...

So easy a caveman could do it.

Originally posted by Klassified
reply to post by caladonea

 

After reading the OP in this thread...I thought what about the baby...it needs love, nurturing and caring. If this scientist succeeds at this; I feel so sorry for that baby; I am concerned that it may not be loved.

Exactly. This is part of my own thinking. The motives are 100% selfish.

Also...why does he want to bring back the neanderthal species?

Being a scientist, I'm sure his motives are from a scientific perspective. Curiosity, study, learning. Certainly not for the well being of the subject in the experiment.

Ahhh...unfortunately, this would not be an experiment in social cues, Nurture Vs. Nature, or even a case study at all on this particular individual, whom, I suspect...is on the way or has already existed....all science wants to know: is mitochondrial DNA still viable today and can we clone the past?...THAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS EXPERIMENT, nothing more, nothing less.

"So easy, even a caveman can do it."
Science isn't cuddly and caring...science is a STUDY that answers questions.

Originally posted by Heisenberg59
So easy a caveman could do it.

DAMN YOU MAN!
You beat me to that punchline by mere minutes!!!

Bad idea.

The evolution of species happened the way it happened because of the old rule 'survival of the fittest". Homo Neanderthalensis died out because it was overcome by environmental conditions and an up and coming superior species.

What we should really be looking at is the next step of human evolution. We are no longer participating in "natural selection". We have become so advanced that we no longer allow the environment to adjust our species, we adjust the environment to suit our species. This is pretty huge in the "evolution of species". No other species has ever been capable of this.

I do think we need to watch our future closely from an evolution point of view. Once upon a time, the dumb asses killed themselves off, now we make rules to protect them...this might sound nice and "humanitarian" but it might not be a good idea. If our species is going to push the envelope forward, we need to stop letting the dregs and the thugs from breeding and continuing stupidity...Sorry if that sounds harsh, but it is a fact. If we ever want to reach the stars, we need to get rid of the dregs and the drones that just eat and consume and contribute nothing.

C'mon......do we really need another Jay Leno.......I mean.....really?

Jus' sayin'



spez

I thought Geico already had a neanderthal baby?

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff


This is a crazy idea if you ask me.

I'd rather it were an Ancient Sumerian!!

Had Harvard gone nuts?!!!!

Homo neanderthals have different functions that we may be unaware of. Homo neanderthals ARE NOT Homo Sapiens. We know our own race, but we know next to nothing of of Homo neaderthals or other homo species.

They were wiped out before we came about or it may be even our ancestors wiped them out. There is something wrong with the neanderthals, unknown to us, and best not tamper with, let alone the humane, moral and ethical issues. We had tampered enough with science to know that. Just look at nuke engergy and how frighten we are today of it.

Homo neanderthals are NOT animals that a scientist can play with in the lab.

If we truly want to know about the neanderthals for the sake of science, let us do it at a distance - archeology, anthropology, and make sure we have COMPLETE knowledge of them before doing anything beyond those 2 discipline.

Better we focus on Homo Sapiens, for there is still much to know about ourselves - DNA and neuroscience had just merely scratched the surface of comprehension of us.

That scientist and anyone else attempting this should have their research funds stopped!

I suppose that the religious people will say they are trying to bring Satan to life. It is possible that some may have considered another humanoid species as evil a long time ago. We still have an innate sense of racism towards others that are not of our kind. I think that this may have been a problem when humans and neanderthals coexisted also. I think humans killed them off and shunned interracial children from societies. This is a very plausable theory because it is evident in humans today.

Survival of the most ruthless seems to be a human trait.

It takes a sharp mind to successfully survive in the wilderness.

If modern "civilized" humans were transported back to Neanderthal's time most would be dead within the first month. We'd go extinct without their intervention. We could try to learn but our frail modern bodies might not hold up in such a harsh environment. I'm pretty sure Neanderthal would think we're stupid and weak.

Environmental stresses are known to cause animal extinctions. Those animals weren't dumb they just couldn't adapt/compete.

After living in rural southern CO I've discovered modern humans aren't all they think they are. Try outsmarting any animal be it the lowly rat or mountain lion. The rat would eat all your food and the lion would eat you.

and just ware pray tell are they gettingt pure VIBal DNA from???
cloning only works WITH and from LIVING cells .