The Interesting Thread 2017 - Mudlarking in the Thames

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Moggy
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PostRe: The Interesting Thread - Machu Picchu & Lost City of Pai
by Moggy » Sat Mar 16, 2013 2:03 pm

Hulohot wrote:Nice pictures :shock: Blew its load with the force of an angry god.


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Skarjo
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PostRe: The Interesting Thread - Machu Picchu & Lost City of Pai
by Skarjo » Sat Mar 16, 2013 2:11 pm

That is literally strawberry floating half an hours drive from me and I strawberry floating missed it.

:x

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1cmanny1
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PostRe: The Interesting Thread - Machu Picchu & Lost City of Pai
by 1cmanny1 » Mon Mar 25, 2013 11:18 pm

LAST WEEKEND AT a TEDx conference in Washington DC sponsored by National Geographic, scientists met to discuss which animals should be brought back from extinction. They also discussed the how, why and ethics of doing so.

They called it ‘de-extinction‘.

A cover story for this month’s National Geographic explains how de-extinction rests on a relatively simple premise: it involves taking old DNA samples, reassembling them into a full genome which is then injected into embryonic cells which have had their own DNA taken out, and then finding a suitable living surrogate to give birth.

The Washington Post reports that ten years ago, a team of scientists from France and Spain almost brought back an extinct wild goat – but it only lived for 10 minutes. It raises a host of issues, including how scientists can get a good enough sample of DNA from the extinct animal – and whether or not they should.

There are a few guidelines for which ancient species are considered, and sadly, dinosaurs are so long dead they aren’t in the picture. Their DNA has long ago degraded, so researchers are fairly sure that Jurassic Park will never happen.

They chose the animals using the following criteria: Are the species desirable – do they hold an important ecological function or are they beloved by humans? Are the species practical choices – do we have access to tissue that could give us good quality DNA samples or germ cells to reproduce the species? And are they able to be reintroduced into the world – are the habitats in which they live available and do we know why they went extinct in the first place?

Even with the criteria, this still leaves plenty of other animals on the table. The list of candidates is actually pretty long, considering.

The cost of de-extinction varies by species but projects could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more. Then there’s also the cost of housing the animals once they are created, and re-introducing them into the world and protecting them from poachers once they are there.

But if you were the zoo that had that one woolly mammoth or saber-toothed cat, these costs might just be worth it.

Here are 22 of the 24 animals they are hoping to one day resurrect.

Carolina Parakeet
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The Carolina Parakeet was the only parrot species native to the eastern United States. The last wild specimen died in 1904 in Florida. There are multiple reasons for its extinction, but a contributing factor was the demand for its colorful feathers to decorate ladies' hats.

Quagga
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This extinct species of plains Zebra, the Quagga, once lived in South Africa. The last wild one was shot in 1870 and the last in captivity died in 1883.

Moho
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The Moho are a genus of extinct birds from Hawaii. Most of them died out because of habitat loss and hunting. The Hawaiian Moho seen here died out in 1934

Dodo
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The Dodo is known for being really dumb — but really it was just fearless because it evolved without any natural predators. Humans who arrived on its home island, Mauritius, took advantage of this and killed them all for food.

Thylacine
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The Thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, is the only marsupial to make the list. It lived in Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea until the 1960s.

Cuban Macaw
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This beautiful bird is the Cuban Macaw. It lived in Cuba and was the last species of Caribbean macaw to go extinct, due to deforestation from human settlement. The last ones died off before the 1900s.

Smilidon
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The iconic Saber-toothed cat, Smilodon, is also on the list. It died out about 10,000 years ago due to climate changes at the end of the last Ice Age.

Pyrenean ibex
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The Pyrenean ibex lived in Southern France and the Northern Pyrenees, but died out in January 2000.

Huia
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The Huia was a large species of New Zealand wattlebird. It went extinct in the 20th century because of hunting to make specimens for museums and private collectors. The female had a long, curved beak.

Passenger pigeon
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Nobody wants more pigeons ... except scientists that is. The Passenger Pigeon died out after living in enormous flocks throughout the 20th century. It was hunted as food for slaves on a massive and mechanized scale until the last one died in 1914.

Elephant bird
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This giant, flightless Elephant bird was found only on the island of Madagascar and died out by the 17th century. It would have been 10 feet tall and weighed 880 pounds.

Aurochs
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The mythical Aurochs is not a myth at all actually. It is the ancestor of domestic cattle and lived throughout Europe, Asia, and North Africa. They died off in 1627.

Caribbean monk seal
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The Caribbean monk seal was hunted to extinction for use as oil, and they were out-competed for fish (their main food source) by humans. The last individual was seen in 1952.

Moa
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The Moa were a giant flightless bird from New Zealand that reached 12 feet tall and weighed more than 500 pounds. They died out because of over hunting by the Maori by 1400.

Mastodon
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The Mastodon is an extinct species related to elephants that lived in North and Central America. They went extinct 12,000 years ago.

Woolly mammoth
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Frozen carcasses of the Woolly Mammoth allow scientists access to well-preserved DNA from these prehistoric giant animals, related to elephants. The last isolated population of woolly mammoths lived on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Ocean until 4,000 years ago.

Great Auk
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The Great Auk went extinct in the mid-19th century. They lived in the North Atlantic from Northern Spain through Canada. They died off because of a combination of climate changes during the Little Ice Age that brought predatory polar bears into their territories, and human hunting.

Imperial Woodpecker
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The Imperial Woodpecker may actually still be alive, but hasn't been seen in more than 50 years. It's presumed extinct because its entire habitat, which was in Mexico, has been destroyed.

Ivory-billed woodpecker
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The Ivory-billed Woodpecker lived in "virgin forests" of the southeastern United states, but there hasn't been a confirmed sighting of the bird since the 1940s. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology even offered a ,000 reward for someone who could lead researchers to a living specimen.

Heath Hen
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The Heath Hen lived in coastal North America up until 1932. They made for delicious dinners, and were likely the foundation of the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving.

Labrador duck
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The Labrador Duck was always rare but disappeared between 1850 and 1870. Supposedly it didn't taste good, so it wasn't hunted extensively for food, so its extinction isn't fully explained.

Dusky seaside sparrow
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This cute little guy is the Dusky Seaside Sparrow, which was found in Southern Florida. It was officially declared extinct in 1990 after humans started spraying the insecticide DDT on its habitat to kill off mosquitoes.


http://www.thejournal.ie/science-conference-de-extinction-840062-Mar2013/

Last edited by 1cmanny1 on Mon Mar 25, 2013 11:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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