Neanderthal Cloning Story Debunked After Poor Translation Spurs Mad Scientist Narrative

Stop me if you've heard this before. An ambitious Harvard geneticist claims to have the ability to tear the Neanderthal species from the ether of extinction and clone the early offshoot of humanity, but can only achieve his goal with the help of an "adventurous human woman" to carry the child. Actually, come to think of it, neither have I. Yet, that is exactly what Professor George Church supposedly suggested to the German publication Spiegel Online in a recent interview. The truth of the matter, however, is that the widespread headline and content within was based off of a poor translation, reports the Boston Herald.

Church argues that "The real story here is how these stories have percolated and changed in different ways. I'm sure we'll get it sorted out eventually."

Research on the Neanderthal Genome Project has not been completed, although an initial draft was published on May 7, 2010. Church's ability to clone the species, if possible, would have been contingent on referencing a complete view of the genome. Interestingly, the team's results discovered proof that "humans and Neanderthals interbred." The remains that served as the centerpiece of the study notably contained "DNA [that] had disintegrated into tiny fragments over the course of time and suffered other types of chemical damage." The DNA of three female Neanderthals was combined to advance the research as well. No single specimen was well-preserved enough to provide all of the necessary data.

Perhaps even more compelling than the prospect of a Neanderthal clone was the article's representation of Church's motivation.

"Curiosity may be part of it, but it's not the most important driving force," he says. "The main goal is to increase diversity. The one thing that is bad for society is low diversity. This is true for culture or evolution, for species and also for whole societies. If you become a monoculture, you are at great risk of perishing. Therefore the re-creation of Neanderthals would be mainly a question of risk avoidance."

In truth, Church simply states, "I'm certainly not advocating [cloning]. I'm saying, if it is technically possible someday, we need to start talking about it today."

In order to create a clone, the translator explains that Church would need to slice the completed genome into tens of thousands of parts and then synthesize them. Next, the slices would be inserted into a human stem cell. "If we do that often enough, then we generate a stem cell line that would get closer and closer to the corresponding sequence of the Neanderthal."

Lastly, the professor's area of expertise "developing synthetic fuels, materials, and other products," rather than recreating species, adds the Boston Herald.