SERIES / PALEOGENOMICS / DE-EXTINCTION
THE REAL MODERN SCIENCE BEHIND JURASSIC PARK
The mosquito-in-amber trick does not survive modern molecular biology. The deeper premise does. Ancient DNA, CRISPR, stem cells, cloning, artificial gestation and conservation engineering have moved enough of de-extinction from fiction into the laboratory that the interesting question is no longer whether the field is real. It is what, exactly, scientists are capable of rebuilding.
Why Mammoths Are Possible and Dinosaurs Aren't
The hard molecular boundary: DNA decay, preservation, paleogenomics and why 66 million years matters.
Read →PART IIThe Genome Is Not the Animal
Gene regulation, development, mitochondria, microbiomes and behavior complicate the resurrection metaphor.
Read →PART IIIHow Do You Build an Extinct Animal?
Comparative genomics, multiplex CRISPR, stem cells, nuclear transfer and the engineering pipeline.
Read →PART IVThe Artificial Womb Problem
Why a genome is easier than gestation, and why elephant reproduction may be the nastiest bottleneck.
Read →PART VYou Made a Mammoth. Now What?
Welfare, social learning, microbiomes, population genetics, staged release and ecological function.
Read →PART VIThe Useful Jurassic Park
The conservation technologies developed for de-extinction may matter more than resurrecting anything.
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