It’s been 22 years since Michael Crichton gave us the blueprint for cloning dinosaurs, and it’s a slap in science’s face that no one has actually tried it yet. All you need to do is find some mosquitos embedded in amber. DUH. That old guy even has some on his cane. Well thank God for fat Australian billionaires, because now Clive Palmer, the same guy building a
The controversial billionaire is rumoured to be planning to clone a dinosaur from DNA so he can set it free in a Jurassic Park-style area at his new Palmer Resort in Coolum.
Mr Palmer has, apparently, been in deep discussion with the people who successfully cloned Dolly the sheep to bring his dinosaur vision to life.
And while the concept sounds like a joke, it apparently comes from a source close to Mr Palmer’s inner circle. [SunshineCoastDaily]
Boy, there’s no more perfect emblem of man’s hubris in the first act than a fat Australian billionaire, is there? “Oi, whoy shouldn’t oy piss on God’s faace, mate?” Sadly, Palmer himself is denying the reports:
On speculation he had been in talks with a clone research institute on the prospects of bringing dinosaurs back to life, Mr Palmer told the Gold Coast Bulletin: “It’s just a beat-up of a story and untrue.”
Editor of The Sunshine Coast Daily, Mark Furler, said: “Mr Palmer has changed his tune several times on this project and the people of the Sunshine Coast wait with bated breath to see what the real plans are.
The Roslin Institute, which stunned the world when it created the world’s first cloned mammal with Dolly, says resurrecting dinosaurs would be difficult because a suitable surrogate to carry a baby dinosaur would be hard to find.
Uh, have these people never heard of Nikki Finke?
It is also unlikely that whole dinosaur cells still exist – even if the carcass were frozen.
More than 100,000 whole dinosaur cells would probably be needed to even attempt to clone a dinosaur. [HeraldSun]
Ugh, stupid science. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Sunshine Coast Mayor Mark Jamieson has already confirmed that Mr. Palmer plans to build a new resort dubbed the “Palmer Resort” in the Middle East, featuring “fly-in, fly-out Muslim hospitality staff.” The resort will include a 20-story sky needle and an oversized ferris wheel in the style of the London Eye. [DailyTech]
Right, because who better to serve rich, decadent Westerners than devout Muslims from abroad? Jesus, that’s actually a worse idea than the dinosaurs.