If We Can Bring the Mammoth Back, What Can’t Genetics Resurrect?
We all understand how the rebirth of extinct species works. Humans find as much tissue from fossils as they can, construct the closest molecular model to organism’s original DNA, and insert that genetic material into an egg of a closely related species. Epigenetics can also reveal the ancient genes hidden deep within even our own genome. Those methods aren’t the issue of debate, however. What people want to know is how far can we take this biological technology? In this video, Michio Kaku seems to be suggesting a wide range of possibilities. It seems we should even consider using computers to remember and implement genomes at our whim to create all sorts of new species.
What is truly beautiful though- more so than the revival of old species- is the ability given to us by technology. On this planet exists life, about 3.7 billion years into its evolution, and it is now able to recreate itself using tools from a lab that itself is a tool. The simple, yet profound, beauty of this notion should be evidence that we have the inherent ancestral obligation to ensure the progressive use of this technology. No matter what Frankenstein experiments we may conceive, we must always maintain one goal: Continue life’s survival on Earth.
And with this technology at our disposal, it seems like we’ll be able to continue any species we want.
- Can Purported Mammoth Blood Revive Extinct Species? (news.nationalgeographic.com)
- Woolly mammoth discovery raises exciting possibilities (cbc.ca)
- Scientists Plan To Resurrect A Range Of Extinct Animals Using DNA And Cloning (vineoflife.net)