"科學家計畫讓猛瑪象起死回生"

如果你以為《冰原歷險記》只是一部電影，那麼請你再想一次，因為現在有一個科學團隊打算複製猛瑪象。雖然這種大型哺乳類動物有可能曾經在4,500年前絕跡，但是根據日本《讀賣新聞》的報導，科學家們仍然打算進行讓這個動物起死回生的計畫。這群來自日本，俄國和美國的科學家們計畫從保存的猛瑪象遺體裡取出DNA，他們說他們只需六年就可以培育出一隻小猛瑪象。

京都大學的入谷明教授是研究團隊領導人，該團隊將仿照神戶再生科學研究中心專家，若山照彥先生的做法，因為若山先生曾經利用凍結長達16年的老鼠細胞成功地複製了一隻老鼠。當科學家們取得猛瑪象DNA之後，他們將把DNA注入非洲象的卵細胞內。

儘管這個計畫很顯然將引起某些道德考量，然而入谷明教授已在接受讀賣新聞訪談時提到一些考量。「如果胚胎複製成功的話，那麼在把它移入子宮之前，我們需要討論如何養育猛瑪象以及如何向社會大眾展示牠。」

(Life) Scientists Plan to Bring the Mammoth Back to Life

If you thought Ice Age was just a movie, think again, because a team of scientists is now planning to clone a mammoth. The huge mammals may not have walked the earth for around 4,500 years, but, according to a report in Japans Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, that isnt stopping the scientists from attempting to resurrect the species. The scientists, who hail from Japan, Russia, and the US, plan to use DNA from a preserved mammoth carcass, and they say they can produce a baby animal in just six years.

The team is led by Kyoto University Professor Akira Iritani, and it will draw on the work of Teruhiko Wakayama of Kobes Riken Center for Developmental Biology, who successfully cloned a mouse from cells that had been frozen for 16 years. After extracting the mammoth DNA, the scientists will place it inside the egg cells of an African elephant.

The plan obviously raises a number of ethical considerations, and Iritani raised a few of the issue himself in an interview with Yomiuri. If a cloned embryo can be created, we need to discuss, before transplanting it into the womb, how to breed the mammoth and whether to display it to the public.

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