Skip to content

Harvard Scientist Seeks 'adventurous Woman' To Have Neanderthal Baby

Political Discussion
6 6 589
  • Scientist seeks 'adventurous woman' to have Neanderthal baby

    Published January 21, 2013

    FoxNews.com

    • Homo%20Neanderthalensis%202.jpgHyper-realistic busts of human ancestors -- like this version of homo neandertal -- give us a glimpse of what our ancient relatives may have looked like. (John Gurche)
       
    • 071018-neanderthals-02.jpgAn artist imagines the typical Neanderthal family. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
       
    • 020510_tooth.jpgIn this picture made available by Szczecin University's Department of Archaelogy on Monday, Feb. 1, 2010 one of three Neanderthal teeth discovered in Poland is pictured . A team of Polish scientists say they have discovered three Neanderthal teeth in a cave in the southern part of the country. Mikolaj Urbanowski, an archaeologist and the lead researcher, said Monday that, although Neanderthal artifacts have been unearthed in Poland before, the teeth are the first remains of Neanderthals themselves discovered in the country. (AP)
       

    Next Slide Previous SlideWhere's Fred Flintstone when you need him?

    A professor of genetics at Harvard's Medical School believes he's capable of bringing the long-extinct Neanderthal back to life -- all he's lacking is the right mother.

    "I can create a Neanderthal baby, if I can find a willing woman," George Church told German newspaper Spiegel Onlineexternal-link.png. The DNA of the Neanderthal, a long extinct relative of man, has been more or less rebuilt, a process called genetic sequencing.

    In 2005, 454 Life Sciences began a project with the Max Planck Institute to sequence the genetic code of a 30,000 year old Neanderthal woman. Now nearly complete, the sequence will let scientists look at the genetic blueprint of humankind's nearest relative, understand its biology and maybe even create a living person.

    And with that blueprint, it's very possible to "resurrect" the Neanderthal, he argues -- something Church has been pushing for years. Church did not respond to FoxNews.com requests to confirm the Spiegel Online story, but last year, he told Bloombergexternal-link.png he was keen on the idea.

    "We have lots of Neanderthal parts around the lab. We are creating Neanderthal cells. Let's say someone has a healthy, normal Neanderthal baby. Well, then, everyone will want to have a Neanderthal kid. Were they superstrong or supersmart? Who knows? But there's one way to find out."

    Last year, researchers finished sequencing the genome of another extinct human relative, the denisovan -- based solely off a piece of fingerbone and two molars.

    <

  • I read this. Very strange. If indeed it happens I feel sorry for the poor little neanderthal baby. Born just to be poked and prodded and trotted around as a curiosity. Seems cruel.

  • Other scientists seem to think this guy is full of shit, and that this isn't possible.

  • I think it's a DNC plot to start yet another Democrat voting bloc.

    WSS

  • haha love it..

    The vast majority of Neanderthal fossils are found in Europe yet this is a picture of a Neanderthal.

    Homo%20Neanderthalensis%202.jpg

    Biblical characters whose origins are far North Eastern Africa & the Middle East.

    jesus_blond31246138290.jpg

  • So weird.

    And that tooth is nearly identical to our upper first molars.

    Science!