Rise from your grave!

[pendell]

Seen in Popular Mechanics

Russia Is Going to Try to Clone an Army of 3,000-Year-Old Scythian Warriors

In an online session of the Russian Geographical Society last month, [Sergei] Shoigu, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, suggested using the DNA of 3,000-year-old Scythian warriors to potentially bring them back to life. Yes, really.

First, some background: The Scythian people, who originally came from modern-day Iran, were nomads who traveled around Eurasia between the 9th and 2nd centuries B.C., building a powerful empire that endured for several centuries before finally being phased out by competitors. Two decades ago, archaeologists uncovered the well-preserved remains of the soldiers in a kurgan, or burial mound, in the Tuva region of Siberia.

Because of Tuva’s position in southern Siberia, much of it is permafrost, meaning a form of soil or turf that always remains frozen. It’s here where the Scythian warrior saga grows complex, because the frozen soil preserves biological matter better than other kinds of ground. Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu knows this better than anyone, because he’s from Tuva.

“Of course, we would like very much to find the organic matter and I believe you understand what would follow that,” Shoigu told the Russian Geographical Society. “It would be possible to make something of it, if not Dolly the Sheep. In general, it will be very interesting.”

I assume it will look something like this.




Tongue-in-cheek,

Brian P.

[JeenLeen]

It would be cool analysis to see a clone of an ancient person.

I don't know how to safely comment about that concept, so I'll comment about the title
"Russia Is Going to Try to Clone an Army of 3,000-Year-Old Scythian Warriors"

Neat attention-grab, as it sounds like
Subject: Russia
Verb: Try to Clone
Target: an Army
Adjective: ancient warriors
Meaning Russia intends to create an army, via cloning.

While in actuality it means:
Subject: Russia
Verb: Try to Clone
Target: unspecified <one dude?>
Adjective: an army of ancient warriors
Meaning Russia intends to clone one (or maybe a few) people, based on DNA from remnants of an army

And the "Going to Try" is definitely overstated. Sounds more like "might try, if we actually find the means to do it".
Still, I find that unclear phrasing rather humorous, in a deceitful-but-not-technically-lying way.

EDIT: "adjective" probably isn't the right term here, but hope it gets the idea across

[DavidSh]

I suppose in Latin there would be different case endings for "cloning an army from ancient Scythian warriors" versus "cloning from an army of ancient Scythian warriors".

Anyway, this case would require two breakthroughs: (1) Cloning any animals that old, and (2) cloning humans.

[Batcathat]

Anyway, this case would require two breakthroughs: (1) Cloning any animals that old, and (2) cloning humans.

This reminds me of something I've been wondering. Obviously cloning humans come with a whole bunch of legal, ethical and political issues but is it also harder to do from a scientific standpoint than cloning, say, a sheep? And if so, why?

[DavidSh]

The (US) National Human Genome Research Institute says,

From a technical perspective, cloning humans and other primates is more difficult than in other mammals. One reason is that two proteins essential to cell division, known as spindle proteins, are located very close to the chromosomes in primate eggs. Consequently, removal of the egg's nucleus to make room for the donor nucleus also removes the spindle proteins, interfering with cell division. In other mammals, such as cats, rabbits and mice, the two spindle proteins are spread throughout the egg. So, removal of the egg's nucleus does not result in loss of spindle proteins. In addition, some dyes and the ultraviolet light used to remove the egg's nucleus can damage the primate cell and prevent it from growing.

So new techniques are required for primates. It's not so clear that there are major technical differences between cloning humans and cloning rhesus monkeys, but what counts as an acceptable failure rate is different.

[Batcathat]

Oh, I see. That's interesting. Thanks.

[DavidSh]

On the other front, they have cloned from a Przewalski’s horse hybrid that had been frozen for 40 years. Usually further discussions move on to trying to clone mammoths, which have their own long list of challenges. Elephants seem more challenging, both technically and ethically, than mice, sheep, or horses.