SPIDER IN PERFECT STATE



Arachnaphobes beware - scientists have found a prehistoric spider perfectly preserved in amber.

Even more worryingly, its blood was preserved, leading to the possibility that its DNA could be extracted.

The creature, 1.5in (4cm) long by 0.78in (2cm) wide, was trapped in the resin 20 million years ago.

Palaeontologist Dr David Penney, of the University of Manchester, managed to extract droplets of its blood to reveal its age.

It is thought to be the first time spider blood has been found in amber.

Dr Penney said he had used the blood droplets to find out how, when and where the creature died.

He believes it was hit on the head by fast-flowing resin, became engulfed and died.

"It's amazing to think that a single piece of amber with a single spider in it can open up a window into what was going on 20 million years ago," he said.

He found the fossil during a visit to a museum in the Dominican Republic.

It is a new species from the filistatidae family commonly found in South America and the Caribbean.

Dr Penney also holds the record for discovering the world's oldest spider, which dates back 135 million years.

His latest find recalls the film Jurassic Park in which scientists bring prehistoric monsters back to life using the DNA of dinosaurs preserved inside insects encased in amber.

That is really cool, we never did find out how the whole mammoth thing went and stuff...

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Originally posted by traxor
That is really cool, we never did find out how the whole mammoth thing went and stuff...

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They found an encased Mammoth with its blood frozen too, they were going to mix the dna with that of an elephant to try and bring it back.

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Originally posted by traxor
They found an encased Mammoth with its blood frozen too, they were going to mix the dna with that of an elephant to try and bring it back.

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its amazing how people love the idea of cloning animals but hate the idea of cloning humans

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Originally posted by azn angel
its amazing how people love the idea of cloning animals but hate the idea of cloning humans

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what about dolly the sheep?

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Originally posted by azn angel
what about dolly the sheep?

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study it and do what? holy shit!! this spider is like really similar to that other one! woohoo! lets release it into the wild now and let it feast on whatever it pleases... maybe even chickens with the bird flu. awesome!!! an endangered spider with the bird flu! wow thats like a totally new spieces!

I just think cloning is wrong... No matter what you are cloning. Everything should be allowed to live and die naturally, and without the fear that if it is somehow preserved it will be cloned back to life. And yes, what if this spider thing brings some disease to the world? You never know.
IMHO, the past is the past, it shouldn't be messed with, nor should anything that died in the past be bought back to life... These animals became extinct or died out for a reason...
And so, you find out soon that you can clone yourself, you can clone anything and everything, what kind of world will we be living in then?
I don't think we should interfere with anything natural, it is plain wrong in my eyes. I don't care how much right it can be done for, what's the point in cloning everything just to see how things were, or cloning something just so you can have two, or more, of that human or animal... Personally, I would be horrified if I turned around and saw another person that looked exactly like me...
And with cloning, you won't be able to study how it would have acted back then. All you are doing is taking the looks of an animal, not how it acts. How it acts depends on everything and anything in the environment and how it is bought up...

I'm no scientist, that's just what I have learned and what I think...

but whats natural and whats not?

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Originally posted by azn angel
but whats natural and whats not?

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Originally posted by Tasha

I just think cloning is wrong... No matter what you are cloning. Everything should be allowed to live and die naturally, and without the fear that if it is somehow preserved it will be cloned back to life. And yes, what if this spider thing brings some disease to the world? You never know.

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i think cloning can be productive for havn't here been case of children being saved by cloning and things.. im not sure but i think it can be good if controlled....

I don't think the spider should be cloned, the spider was made extinct because it couldn't fit in the changing world, everything happens for a reason, and it doesn't do well to dig up the past.

The reason why the spider is extinct, is probably because it could no longer survive in our world. ie: the climate became much colder/warmer than the spider could survive in. Or maybe the food it survived on also became extinct, and it could no longer survive...

Even if they managed to successfully clone it, I doubt it would last long before dying of hunger or something.

I don't think humans should mess with mother nature at all. All we will end up doing is screwing things up... I can't stress enough how bad it would be to start cloning things on a regular basis.

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Originally posted by Tasha
And with cloning, you won't be able to study how it would have acted back then. All you are doing is taking the looks of an animal, not how it acts. How it acts depends on everything and anything in the environment and how it is bought up...

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oh university of manchester, fantastic, ill look in local newspapers then.

And yes I parially agree with Tasha but i think cloning does have an upside for example, if its used to save a life. But the spider, whats the point, aside from the fact it could have some deadly disease...

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Originally posted by mwe99
But the spider, whats the point, aside from the fact it could have some deadly disease...

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too bad no dinosours or a mammoth was trapped in an amber like that LOL

I would partially agree with using cloning for spare organs. But then you run into one problem with that, as well as another larger, and more generalised problem from it.

a) If it is a genetic defect, making a clone won't help.

b) We are going to reach a population crisis, if we get to the point of keeping people alive as much as possible. Im not saying don't help keep people alive, but there has to be a limit. Nature controls itself, to ensure things don't get over populated.

Don't want to start a second argument, but fox hunting for example - without it at all, we would get overun with foxes... If we hunt too much, we end up making foxes extinct. It has to be controlled. Now in theory, we shouldn't be controlling it at all. The reason we have to control it, is because we control the other bits that effect foxes.

Because we interfered with one part of natures cycle, we have stuffed up many others.

Cloning humans, designer babies and other such would be a disaster... For many more reasons.

I reckon we will end up destroying our own species if we interfere much more.

that is pretty cool but what happens if they bring the spider back to life, its gonna die anyway because it dosnt have a mate and watch that spider turn into some very very very poisonous and vicious killing machine