vortex-l  

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

Alexander Hollins
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:29:47 -0800

You know, as a writer, I'm tempted to take that final line as a
challenge.  The only question, do i make the shroud be actually stains
of christ, or some other dude?

On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 12:07 PM, Jones Beene <jone...@pacbell.net> wrote:
> 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.