An international team of scientists has reconstructed more than three-quarters of the genome of the woolly mammoth using DNA extracted from balls of hair, the first time this has been accomplished for an extinct species. The project provides some of the starting material that would be required to bring back to life the species of giant, hairy, cold-weather animals. That task, however, is too difficult to be accomplished soon -- and may turn out to be impossible. The research immediately offers insight into the history of elephants, however. It may illuminate the ... (more)