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The Raelian Movement
for those who are not afraid of the future : http://www.rael.org
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11615811
29 October 2010 Last updated at 04:37 GMT
Clone zone: Bringing extinct animals back from the dead
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From animal to ark: How to take DNA from one of the world's most dangerous bears
It is like a military operation.
There are team briefings, kit is checked and then checked again.
But dealing with South East Asia's sun bear is not straightforward. It is the world's smallest bear - but also one of the most dangerous.
Today, two are being moved between zoos in the UK - from the Rare Species Conservation Centre in Kent to Colchester Zoo in Essex.
Sun bears are very small, but extremely fierce
But while the bears are anaesthetised and given an essential check-up before their journey, it also gives Dr Masters access to a precious resource: their DNA.
Dr Masters explains: "We are losing species too quickly, therefore we ought to preserve at least the genetic material that has taken millions and millions of years to evolve."
The sun bear samples are heading to the Frozen Ark, which has its headquarters at the University of Nottingham.
Here they are frozen and then stored with samples that have been collected, by a network of vets and scientists, from endangered species all around the world.
The team behind the Frozen Ark says that it could provide the ultimate back-up plan for when all other conservation efforts fail.
Dr Ann Clarke, one of the Frozen Ark's founders, comments: "Like Dolly the sheep, although scientists do not like to talk too much about this, there is a very real possibility that we might be able to one day bring back an extinct or a very endangered species."
While bringing extinct animals back from the dead sounds like science fiction, thanks to recent advances in cloning technology it is much closer to reality than you might think.
In 2009, a Spanish team created a clone of the extinct Pyrenean ibex.
The animal died shortly after birth, but it has marked the beginnings for this new - and controversial - branch of conservation biology.
Full article on url above"Ethics" is simply a last-gasp attempt by deist conservatives and
orthodox dogmatics to keep humanity in ignorance and obscurantism,
through the well tried fermentation of fear, the fear of science and
new technologies.
There is nothing glorious about what our ancestors call history,
it is simply a succession of mistakes, intolerances and violations.
On the contrary, let us embrace Science and the new technologies
unfettered, for it is these which will liberate mankind from the
myth of god, and free us from our age old fears, from disease,
death and the sweat of labour.
Rael
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