According to The Daily Yomiuri (Japan), a team of geneticists in Japan has made a breakthrough on their long effort to clone a woolly mammoth, resurrecting the Pleistocene beast from 10,000 years of extinction. The team had been having trouble finding a viable sample of mammoth DNA to use for the cloning process. But the researchers have devised a method to extract intact nuclei from preserved mammoth eggs, which they will then insert into modern elephant eggs, hopefully resulting in a viable embryo. The leader of the project says the potential mammoth's birthday is at least five or six years away, and that if the clone survives, it may provide clues to the animals' extinction. Read more about the nacent clone, here.
Read more from Alaska Dispatch about modern uses for woolly mammoth remains and a new idea about what may have spelled doom for the massive creatures.
And in case you're wondering what five extinct animals would be "way cooler" to clone than a mammoth, Seattle Weekly has you covered, that is, unless you're a fan of the giant beaver or stag-moose.