Friday 15 March 2019

Woolly mammoths: Japanese scientists take ‘significant step’ towards bringing prehistoric giants back to life


Cells extracted from carcass of frozen mammoth injected into mouse tissues
The last woolly mammoth populations died out just over 4,000 years ago, but the prehistoric giants could soon be back and plodding about just like they were during the ice age.
Scientists in Japan claim to have taken a “significant step” towards bringing the extinct species back to life, after they transplanted cells extracted from the carcass of a mammoth into a mouse, where they subsequently recorded positive biological activity.
The cells were taken from the 28,000-year-old mummified remains of a woolly mammoth, named Yuka, found in Siberian permafrost in 2010. The animal, which died when it was about seven-years-old, is one of the best preserved mammoths known to science.
The team extracted tissue samples from the animal’s bone marrow and muscle, which they described as “well preserved”.
They then began searching for cell nuclei remains. In total, 88 nucleus-like structures were collected from the muscle sample.



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