Addressing the Mamoth in the room
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2019-08-12
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en
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An island full of resurrected dinosaurs is often what first comes to mind when
exploring the concept of de-extinction. Movies like Jurassic Park and the general
prospect of coming face-to-face with creatures that have long gone extinct
certainly evokes excitement and curiosity for many people. While scientists are
not currently planning to de-extinct dinosaurs, the resurrection of other animal
species is no longer mere science fiction, due to technological and molecular
biological advancements made relatively recently. In 2003, the first, somewhat
successful, attempt at de-extinction was made by a team of Spanish and French
scientists, who brought back a Pyrenean ibex, an extinct mountain goat. This was
done by injecting nuclei from preserved cells into goat eggs emptied of their DNA
and implanting them in surrogate mothers, only to see the species go extinct
again within minutes after birth (Folch et al. 2008). Although the revival of extinct
animals has been sparking our imagination for decades through science fiction
books and films, such as John Brosnan’s Carnosaur (1984) and maybe most
famously Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (1990), the topic of de-extinction did not
become a popular topic in the public and academic debate, until 2013 (Martinelli
et al., 2014). The Revive and Restore network, supported by TED and in
cooperation with National Geographic Society, organized a conference about the
topic, sparking the debate in March 2013. During this conference,
conservationists, ethicists, people working on genetic and biotechnology and
scientists working in other related fields involved with current species-revival
projects were brought together to discuss the topic in depth, yielding the interest
in de-extinction of scientist and lay people (Vassershteyn, 2013).
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen