[Vo]:Is Galileo's DNA still viable?

[Jones Beene]

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre5aj3d3-us-italy-galileo-find/

Apparently body parts and teeth from Galileo were cut from his corpse by
scientists during a burial ceremony held after his death in 1642. End of
story? Don't count on that.

DNA from teeth and hair can be extracted, multiplied and sequenced - long
after death. In fact there is a decent chance (in the spirit of Jurassic
Park) that a few recently extinct species will be cloned and brought back
from extinction within the next decade. Researchers at Penn State University
have sequenced about 85% of the gene map of the woolly mammoth, using DNA
taken from hair samples that are tens of thousands of years old. Dr Wakayama
from the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Japan, believes that a
technique she has used to clone mice from specimens frozen and dead for
sixteen years could be used to take the next step.

Imagine the implications of a steady supply of exceptional human geniuses.
Yes, it is easy to over-exaggerate, but imagine being one of a few "natural
born" teen students in a classroom of cloned, highest genius-level
"returnees": Galileo, Da Vinci, Dirac, Isaac Newton, Louis Alvarez etc.
Heck. old Al (Albert E.) might not even make the cut.

Of course, there is *zero assurance* that the "clone of a genius" will
follow in the footsteps of the progenitor, and likewise rise to the same
level of accomplishment - but there is also absolutely no doubt that some
wealthy individual  will try to find out.

Probably the same guy who was high bidder on Galileo's teeth.

Jones

BTW - the implications of cloned DNA from the Shroud of Turin has already
been explored in (poorly written) fiction.