Science has often led scientists in some quite eccentric indulgences. But sometimes, the work of a scientist may seem a bit too queer for one’s taste. So is the case with George Church who is a molecular geneticist at Harvard. Church wishes to bring back the Neanderthal species.
And the method that he seeks to use in doing so is all the more queer. Church believes that a Neanderthal baby can be born if a women volunteers to be a surrogate mom. As Church puts it rather mildly, only a ‘adventurous female human’ may even think of volunteering for such a ’cause.’
Church’s idea come off as rather vague when he says that once we have the Neanderthals, we may be able to study Neanderthal culture more closely. He also claims that this may eventually lead to some political significance attached to the new species.
A debate has ensued as to whether we should be working backwards into the past or towards the future – that whether it is Neanderthals we should be creating or cyborgs and more advanced machines to help us accomplish tasks and continue technological development. These questions are indeed valid because on even some fleeting reflection, one realizes that creating a Neanderthal may serve little more than helping us understand one stage in human evolution.
Source: Der Spiegel
Courtesy: ReadWrite
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I dont know what to say about this approach. If a human gives birth, then its also a human. I am not sure if science is really that advanced already to form a zygote of two different species and combine their DNA without self-rejecting, and after all giving birth to a Neandertal baby should be almost impossible.