The era of dinosaurs can be revived

Biologists from Oxford University claimed that though they had disappeared from the earth tens of millions of years ago, however, dinosaurs and mammoths could have been revived.

Dr. Alison Woollard from the Department of Biochemistry at Oxford University says that, theoretically, humans can recreate dinosaurs, as well as mammoths, based on the DNA of birds.

By identifying and replacing fixed genes found in the DNA of modern birds, she believes scientists can 'design' the genomes of prehistoric creatures.

This theory has elicited the story in the movie 'Jurassic Park' , however, the effort to revive prehistoric creatures using science and technology seems more reliable than those used in the film. in 1993.

In the film, director Steven Spielberg imagined geneticists recreating dinosaurs by using preserved DNA from insects that sucked on the blood of dinosaurs that were stuck to the sap and turned into tigers beat.

A mosquito discovered with blood of other animals in the stomach recently is 46 million years old, though not the time of the dinosaurs, but it is also nearly a tantalizing way. However, hope seems to have vanished when a research team from Murdoch University of Western Australia has demonstrated that DNA cannot be preserved well beyond 6.3 million years. While most dinosaurs are extinct about 65 million years ago, in the Cretaceous period.

However, Dr. Woollard theorized that 'resurgence' can be achieved by 'reverse evolution' of birds.

'We all know that birds are direct descendants of dinosaurs, as demonstrated by an unbroken line of fossils, which tracks the evolution of genetic flow from organisms such as Velociraptor or T-Rex through today's birds, " said Dr. Woollard.

The most typical of these findings is Archeopteryx, the fossil most clearly showing the transition from feathered dinosaurs to modern birds. This evolution shows that hiding deep inside the DNA of birds today is that genes that control the genetic traits of dinosaurs have been 'switched off'.

'Can we' rewind 'the evolution process by' restarting 'these genes and use them to guide the development of the offspring, the offspring, even the great-grandchildren of the birds to undo evolution? '

All animals and plants are related, sharing a common ancestor that existed 1.6 billion years ago.

'In theory, we can use our knowledge of the genetic relationship between birds and dinosaurs to' design 'a true dinosaur genome , ' said Dr Woollard. However, the biggest difficulty is learning about the complete length of a dinosaur genome to know what changes to make on the bird's genome. Even if there is dinosaur DNA that exists but is not well preserved, it will be fragmented into small fragments.

To be able to create a complete genome, scientists need to combine millions of nucleic acid fragments together in an exact order, similar to assembling a giant puzzle with complex structures. trash and all pieces are shaped in the same way.

However, reviving a mammoth seems less difficult. With modern cloning technology, we can revive extinct species in the period of about 6.8 million years back today, if suitable cells are found.

Scientists from France and Spain have successfully preserved the species of Alpes before the end of extinction by cloning since 2000. In addition, many mammoth tissue cells have also been preserved. Korean and Mongolian scientists found in ice walls in Siberia. If it is possible to find suitable cells, or even just the intact nuclei of a cell from the tissue found, scientists can create a cloned animal.

However, theory and achievement sparked a fierce debate between geneticists, biologists and conservationists around the moral sense of returning animals from death.

However, Dr. Woollard objected."Do we have a moral obligation to reintroduce modern species that we have become extinct?". "Will biodiversity increase our ecosystems or non-living organisms?" count will become deadly virus reservoir? How can scientists make boundaries? '

"And above all, a more realistic note, if we remind ourselves of the fear described in the blockbuster Jurassic Park . Will we really want to live with dinosaurs? "