Reviving Extinct Species: The Mythical Possibilities of Genetics in Hollywood’s Jurassic Park

A mythical Hollywood saga, “Jurassic Park” brings to the screen the crazy idea of ​​one day being able to revive extinct species thanks to progress in genetics.

When he embarked on the film adaptation of the literary saga of Jurassic Park in 1993, Steven Spielberg wanted to stick as closely as possible to research in paleontology. He therefore appealed to one of the most famous American specialist, Jack Horner, who is at the origin of important recent discoveries on dinosaurs. The paleontologist is convinced that he can bring them back to life thanks to their descendants, the chickens.

By dint of manipulating poultry embryos, Jack Horner succeeded through his “chickenosaurus” project in reactivating ancestral genes to create chimeras with snouts rather than beaks, like the dinosaurs were.

>> The period trailer of “Jurassic Park “:

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Fighting the sixth mass extinction

Thanks to incredible advances in genetics, the fantasy of reviving extinct species may one day come true. Mythical species could be rehabilitated from sufficiently preserved traces of DNA.

But far from the science spectacle staged in “Jurassic Park,” the current labs are working on future de-extinction projects. Failing to revive the dinosaurs, the progress of science would allow us to fight against the sixth mass extinction.

Lionel Cavin, co-author of the book “Reviving Extinct Species”, explains that this could serve to “rewild” part of the planet. “The goal would be to recreate environments that existed before humans had an influence on them.”

“There are for example projects in North America or in Siberia that work with existing species. In Siberia there were lions, camels, animals that have completely disappeared and that could be reintroduced for the ecosystem and not for themselves. And in this context, why not consider genetically modifying certain species close to extinct species to reintegrate them into these environments?”, advances the paleontologist and curator at the Natural History Museum of the city ​​of Geneva.

>> Listen to episode 2: Cinémascience (2/5): Jurassic Park and the question of disextinction / La Matinale / 4 min. / tuesday at 07:28

2023-07-30 05:54:31
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