A Story Idea Each Day for a Month — Day 29
This is the fourth year in a row I’ve run this series in April.
Today’s story: Harvard scientist says he can create Neanderthal baby, just needs willing woman:
A Harvard scientist has said it would be possible to clone a Neanderthal baby from ancient DNA if he could find a woman willing to act as a surrogate.
The process would not be legal in many countries and would involve using DNA extracted from fossils.
George Church, a genetics professor of Harvard School of Medicine, said that the process was possible and that far from being brutal and primitive, Neanderthals were intelligent beings.
They are believed to be one of the ancestors of modern man and became extinct 33,000 years ago. He added that altering the human genome could also provide the answers to curing diseases such as cancer and HIV, and hold the key to living to 120.
He told Der Spiegel, the German magazine: “I have already managed to attract enough DNA from fossil bones to reconstruct the DNA of the human species largely extinct. Now I need an adventurous female human.”
The professor claims that he could introduce parts of the Neanderthal genome to human stem cells and clone them to create a fetus that could then be implanted in a woman.
Prof Church helped start the Human Genome Project that mapped human DNA and is well respected in the field. His comments will surprise most geneticists who believe that cloning humans is unacceptable. It is illegal in Britain.
Prof Church said: “We can clone all kinds of mammals, so it’s very likely that we could clone a human. Why shouldn’t we be able to do so?”
He added: “Neanderthals might think differently than we do. We know that they had a larger cranial size. They could even be more intelligent than us.
“When the time comes to deal with an epidemic or getting off the planet or whatever, it’s conceivable that their way of thinking could be beneficial. They could maybe even create a new neo-Neanderthal culture and become a political force. The main goal is to increase diversity. The one thing that is bad for society is low diversity.”
First off, the dude’s name is Professor Church. I mean, seriously. If that isn’t an attempt to deflect attention from him being the story’s Nemesis…
Oh wait. That’s his real name.
Never mind.
Second, there was the 1992 comedy Encino Man: “When they find a frozen caveman in their backyard, two high school outcasts thaw him out and introduce him to modern day life while he in turn, gets them to actually enjoy life.”
As a point of reference, it starred Pauly Shore.
So I shall safely steer far away from the humor domain and take this down the horror-thriller route by picking up on a thought posited by our dear Professor Church: “They could even be more intelligent than us.”
It’s funny about white collar business types. They’re fond of using battle language. “We totally crushed it today… I’m gonna kill that guy… We need to bury them.”
Que machismo.
But what if there was a class of Neanderthals? They had an instinct for violence and they were smarter than us. Crush… kill… bury… not euphemisms for these characters.
I’m thinking a pharmaceutical company, their R&D division. Illegally cloning Neanderthals in secret. Looking to experiment on them, secreting various bodily substances in order to test, then patent them as drugs. Give them a leg up on the competition, no one else able to copy the drug because no one else has Neanderthals caged up in their labs.
One day the Neanderthals figure they’ve had just about enough. Maybe one of their beloved members gets tested one too many times and dies a horrid death. Big Pharma Dudes, they could care less, sitting in their penthouse offices tracking the performance of their stocks on CNBC. But they’ll care soon enough as the Neanderthals escape and lock down the facility. No one is getting out alive… that is of the homo sapiens crew.
Revenge of the Neanderthals! Such a ridiculous idea, it just could work.
How about you? What would you do with cloned Neanderthals?
Each day this month, I invite you to join me in comments to do some brainstorming. Gender bend, genre bend, what if. Take each day’s story idea and see what it can become when we play around with it. These are all valuable skills for a writer to develop.
See you in comments. And come back tomorrow for our very last Story Idea Each Day For A Month.
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