De-extinction This was one of the main science topics in 2013. It appeared in th

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De-extinction

This was one of the main science topics in 2013. It appeared in the papers, on the net, and there was a big conference about it.

And genetics has been pushing forward ever since.

This is not simply a breeding program like what is happening with the Quagga Project.

This is basically the bringing back to life species that have gone extinct, a la Jurassic Park.

But this is not something that we may be able to do at some distant point in the future. The future is now. A type of wild goat, the Pyrenean ibex, was resurrected (via surrogate goat mother) for 10 minutes before the kid died.

A couple of years ago there was an article in the Halifax Herald about Australian scientists working to resurrect a recently extinct species of frog. They managed to get to the stage where the egg was beginning to divide and differentiate.

There are many other examples easily found on the internet. So it is happening even as we discuss it; bald, pasty-skinned, socially inept scientists are fiendishly working away in their laboratories.

Right now they are only looking at the recently extinct – a few decades or a century. But there already is talk about bringing back the mammoth or perhaps a saber-tooth tiger.

You know it is not going to stop there. How long before Jurassic Park becomes reality? So the question is:

“Should we bring extinct species back just because we can?” Some points to think about:

- evolution has already selected against these species (to misquote Jurassic Park)

- humans are the only species that has the ability to deliberately (maliciously?) and methodically cause the extinction of another species.

- if we can’t look after the ones we have now why do we need more

- how long before it becomes commercialized – think Arnold Schwarzenegger in “The Sixth Day”

Let's hear your view.

Explanation / Answer

--Yes, of course we should bring back all the extinct species not because we can but because the existence of the diversity of fauna is mandatory for the survival of the humans. If the species extincts, eventually the humans are going towards their own extinction. The variety of species balance the climate and the environment of the earth but the humans are affecting the environment and ultimately the species are dying.

The modern science has emerged so much that it seems possible to bring back all the near extinction species. Humans are only responsible for the extinction of living species but humans also have ability to protect them.

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