That's the provocative title of an article in this month's Archaeology magazine exploring the scientific, legal, and ethical considerations involved. Extensive information about the Neanderthal genetic code is available, and the technologic problems can apparently be overcome. Questions remain about how the process might best be accomplished, and whether it should be done at all.
The Neanderthals broke away from the lineage of modern humans around 450,000 years ago... As different as Neanderthals were, they may not have been different enough to be considered a separate species. "There are humans today who are more different from each other in phenotype [physical characteristics]," says John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin... Many of the differences between a Neanderthal clone and a modern human would be due to genetic changes our species has undergone since Neanderthals became extinct... Clones created from a genome that is more than 30,000 years old will not have immunity to a wide variety of diseases, some of which would likely be fatal. They will be lactose intolerant, have difficulty metabolizing alcohol, be prone to developing Alzheimer's disease, and maybe most importantly, will have brains different from modern people's...
"I think there would be no question that if you cloned a Neanderthal, that individual would be recognized as having human rights under the Constitution and international treaties," says Lori Andrews, a professor at Chicago-Kent College of Law. The law does not define what a human being is, but legal scholars are debating questions of human rights in cases involving genetic engineering...
Hawks believes the barriers to Neanderthal cloning will come down. "We are going to bring back the mammoth... the impetus against doing Neanderthal because it is too weird is going to go away." He doesn't think creating a Neanderthal clone is ethical science, but points out that there are always people who are willing to overlook the ethics. "In the end," Hawks says, "we are going to have a cloned Neanderthal, I'm just sure of it."
Much more at the link. The image is a computer-assisted reconstruction of a Neanderthal child by a research team at the University of Zurich.
Previously on Neatorama: Misconceptions About Neanderthals, and Cavemen Did Have Compassion: They Cared for Disabled Children.
I'd love to see more than one sentient species (assuming we can't interbreed, which we may be able to do) on this planet. It would very many positive -- and hard to guess at -- implications I think in terms of how we perceive our place in the universe.
Hopefully they will get equal rights.
One Johnny Damon is enough.
Anyhow, what do female Neanderthals look like? Pam Anderson?
Hmm.
Also: why are Neanderthals always speculated to have European hair and eye colors? Blonde, red, light brown hair and green, blue, and grey eyes are believed to have emerged as recently as 15,000 years ago, during the European ice age, as reproductive advantages for women seeking to secure resource-providing mates. This was also a period during which there was an enormous selective pressure favoring intellect.
My theory is that when anthro-model artists combine dark skin, dark eyes and dark hair with the known morphology of Neanderthals, the resulting creatures don't look so foreign anymore. They start to look like the sort of thugs who beat and mug 101-year old women (such as Jack Rhodes).
Woops, I fear the ADL overheard me and is sending a Homeland Security/JTTF diversity religion enforcement squad to cart me off to the Facility 1391 torture center.
NO!!! Really. BAD! Idea. Sure, one or a few researchers might find a good and useful purpose for doing it but then gets a hold of the technology and the next thing you know The Clan of the Cave Bear takes over and The New World Order is here and hilarity ensues. Or something like that.
Clone Neanderthals? Clone ANY people?
NO!!! Really. BAD! Idea. Sure, one or a few researchers might find a good and useful purpose for doing it but then (insert name of huge, nation-crushing corporaton here) gets a hold of the technology and the next thing you know The Clan of the Cave Bear takes over and The New World Order is here and hilarity ensues. Or something like that.
Neanderthals brains were shaped differently than human brains. Different regions were larger or smaller then a human brain. Cloning them would tell us if the shape of their brain made them any different developmentally than humans. Like if they could understand speach and had the right brain proportions to talk.
They are always portrayed as having European features because we've sequenced Neanderthal DNA and found that they all had red or blond hair, and green or blue eyes. Not because the person who rendered them did. They're historically accurate. Additionally, it's been hypothesized that the first humans were light skinned, and later developed dark skin when they moved out of the rainforest and onto the plains. It allowed them to cope better with the sun and heat.
If you're going to argue about something, at least do some research. You just look silly when you don't.
Srsly, creating a clone of any humanoid is going to be bad news when it happens, and it will happen I'm afraid. Sooner or later, we will be confronted with it, and the media... well, if you thought Michael Jackson was a spectacle, wait till you see that circus.
And only when we do that succesful and on a routine basis, then let us look at species like the mammoth, T-Rex and our cousins the Neanderthals....
The more you know!
Please note that the information cited comes from a paleoarchaeologist, not a biologist, and the guy is only talking about biology here (i.e., not his field of expertise).
While nurture does play a significant role, genetics also influences brain development. Neandertals were after all a different species of human, and just as the brain of bonobo is different from that of a gorilla because of genetics, so to would the brain of a homo sapien be different from that of a Neanderthal. We can see this is skull impressions of Neanderthals, which shows that they tended to have a larger occipital lobe than us, and a small prefrontal cortex.
as for the tendency for European features, you must remember that Neanderthals lived in colder environments where sunlight was weaker. Lighter skin and hair was advantageous because it allowed for more vitamin D be produced by the skin when it was exposed to sunlight. Someone with very dark skin, especially a pregnant female and her baby, would be at a disadvantage in such an environment, especially since food was not as easy to come by as it is has been in the modern world.
Good explanation, but I'm pretty sure NC just came in to drop a race/"anti-PC" troll.