Fossils brought back to life!

[mrhnau]

Saw this on Slashdot, and thought it was neat

Fossils brought back to life!

In a controversial study, researchers have resurrected a retrovirus that infected our ancestors millions of years ago and now sits frozen in the human genome. Published online by Genome Research this week, the study may shed new light on the history of these genomic intruders, as well as their role in tumors. Although this particular virus, dubbed Phoenix, is a wimpy one, some argue that resuscitating any ancient virus is inherently risky and that the study should have undergone stricter reviews.

Well, not dinosaurs or anything, but viruses Still, very neat stuff! Brings about some interesting questions, such as should this be done? What are the repurcussions? Any real threat?

As a scientist, I find this fascinating stuff... a real glimpse into the past As long as proper containment procedures are followed, I don't see a real problem with it...

 

[bushidomartialarts]

whew.

i thought you were gonna say van halen was getting back together...

 

[Xue Sheng]

I believe they were also looking for living cells in frozen mammoths found in Siberia in an effort to resurrect a mammoth too. However they were talking about combining it with elephant DNA and after several generations you would have a mammoth.