teexmmo@isis.educ.lon.ac.uk (Matthew Moore) (04/06/90)
Wen-King Su writes: Vincent Catewrites: >>The idea is to take some DNA from a mammoth cell and use this to clone a ><mammoth. The nucleus from a mammoth cell would be put into a elephant egg > >What about the beta-decay of C-14 isotope. Anybody knows the approximated >number of C-14 atoms per mammoth DNA? C-14 undergoes beta decay into N-14 >with a half life of 5730 years. If there are many C-14 atoms in each piece >of DNA, the mammoth DNA could be pretty badly chopped up by the time we dig >them out of the ice. An interesting thought! Isnt it likely to be the same as the 'natural' occurence (ie in the atmosphere etc) and isnt the ratio of C14 : C14 pretty low? -- ><{ (`> <') }><