Should this sick professor be sacked?

yes quite. Partly because media is dominated by people with an arts background too.

I was reading Red magazine at the hairdresser's this afternoon and there was an interview with Prof Brian Cox by Lauren Laverne.
Amongst other things he was talking about how different public attitudes to science in the late 18C when so many exciting discoveries were being made and science was regarded more as an extension of the Arts.
Now though science is associated in people's minds with technical warfare, nuclear bombs etc and the misreporting of this professor's words are symptomatic of that - the newspapers just like to feed people's prejudice.
Such a pity when science has done so much to enhance our lives.

What he really said:
www.newsdaily.com/stories/bre90n057-us-usa-neanderthal-cloning/

Had to look up Thylacine. A marsupial wolf? It looked a bit like a dingo.

On the subject of Dodo's [or Dodoes?] have you seen The Pirates in an adventure with scientists film, Deedaa. A must for dodo lovers . Wasn't Charles Darwin partly responsible for their demise as he probably ate them, along with everyone else?

I think the suggestion is that as the melting ice forces polar bears to travel further in search of food they will be mixing more with grizzlies and interbreeding and the polar bear may die out and be replaced by the polar/grizzly cross.
I would dearly love to see the Dodo, the Mammoth and the Thylacine resurrected. The Thylacine is so recent that it surely must be possible one day and I haven't totally given up hope on the Mammoth. The idea of breeding a Neanderthal is horribly tempting, although I doubt that it would be possible - extracting undamaged DNA suitable for the project sounds a pretty insurmountable problem. In the unlikely event of it ever being possible I can't imagine it being allowed anywhere (Well China perhaps?)

Most people can manage to recognise irony.

Did you bother to read my second p[ost at all?

Why do you need everything spelt out to you? (you complain about thread titles not being explanatory enough. )

Yes if you don't really mean it j07 then a little emoticon would help everyone understand that. I know your just being your unique self but others, who know you less well, might think you are really want to do away with people that say silly things.

Should have added

Jess do you take everything that I say on here that seriously?

I am sure I saw something about polar bears and grizzly bears being closely enough related to interbreed. There have been several programmes recently featuring polar bears.

Right up in the far north of Canada. That's a sneaky defence isnt it.
Subspecies can interbreed and produce viable fertile offspring would be my understanding.

Several cases I think. The one I heard of was due to a court case because someone had killed a bear and, if it had been a polar bear[or grizzly, not sure which] they could have been prosecuted, but it turned out to be a hybrid. Since then they have found more hybrids. But I get hybrids and sub species and such things mixed up. First Born was made in 1988 so, in it's way was way ahead of it's time.

j07 never one to pull your punches! You're suggesting he should be killed for making a suggestion about something that cannot currently be done?
I dont know. Was there tegwan?

Wasn't there a case recently of a grizzly bear/polar bear hybrid that was killed?

Of course it shouldn't happen, but I have to confess I would like to see a real live Neanderthal, and a woolly mammoth and a dodo, etc.

Didn't Ozzy Osborne have genome sequencing? It showed that he was part Neanderthal!

Actually I think he is just making the point that he could do it. And stating his belief that it could be beneficial to the human race. He could be right in that. He hasn't actually said that he would do it.

It's just scientific talk amongst peers. And the newspapers have got hold of it.

He's just pushing the boundaries. Given how ignorant Americans are about science in general, I can imagine him doing it just for the entertainment value. Looks like a successful publicity stunt to me.

It's not going to happen. Stop worrying and enjoy the ridiculousness.

j07 It's a publicity seeking prof who is 'flying a kite' and probably now enjoying the furore he's excited. This week's sensation, next week's chip paper - if anyone still uses it.

It is sick. And ridiculous. He shouldn't sacked. The human race should be relieved of him.

I've seen it in the Guardian on line this morning. I would be willing to bet that he has already had a number of silly women volunteering for the experiment!

And a hinny is the other way round from a mule – but still sterile.

Completely off the point, before redecorating the hall, stairs and landings in the house I lived in when absentdaughter was of primary school age, I let her and her friends draw, write, paint and put handprints over the old lining paper. One piece of absentdaughter's graffiti was "Mules are sterile".

dorsetpennt The same story was in the Torygraph. I didn't see it in the Grauniad, but might have missed it.

I am sure that it is mostly media hype!

Hybridisation is the crossing of two species. It is not common and the result is usually sterile. A good example of this is the mule, using a mare and a jack donkey.