Seriously, did we learn nothing from Jurassic Park?
Seriously, did we learn nothing from Jurassic Park?
This weekend, Jeff Goldblum (well, an unverified account, so take it with a grain of salt) posted a link to an article from 2015 about scientists claiming to be able to recreate dinosaurs within five years. The tweet went hugely viral, racking up over 240k likes and 68k retweets.
Deploying it with the perfect quote from Jurassic Park seems like the best way to handle this news: "Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
The article focuses on the work of Dr. Jack Horner, who was the inspiration for Sam Neill's Dr. Alan Grant in the original trilogy. Horner, who served as a consultant on the film series, explains that the key to successfully recreating the scaley monsters was through genetically modifying modern day chickens.
Horner told People Magazine, "Of course, birds are dinosaurs. So we just need to fix them so they look a little more like a dinosaur."
Scientists have also been attempting similar studies by splicing the genes from woolly mammoths into elephants in an attempt to create a modern equivalent.
Essentially, teams at Harvard and Yale are working to reverse evolution chickens back to their ancestral, slightly more dangerous forms. According to Horner, there are four major differences -- their tails, arms, hands, and mouths -- that present scientists with the most problems.
According to Horner, "Actually, the wings and hands are not as difficult. The tail is the biggest project. But on the other hand, we have been able to do some things recently that have given us hope that it won't take too long."
Could "Chickensaurus" soon be a reality? Time will tell.