How to Build a Dinosaur: Extinction Doesn't Have to be ForeverA world-renowned paleontologist takes readers all over the globe to reveal a new science that trumps science fiction: how humans can re-create a dinosaur. In movies, in novels, in comic strips, and on television, we’ve all seen dinosaurs—or at least somebody’s educated guess of what they would look like. But what if it were possible to build, or grow, a real dinosaur, without finding ancient DNA? Jack Horner, the scientist who advised Steven Spielberg on Jurassic Park, and a pioneer in bringing paleontology into the twenty-first century, teams up with the editor of The New York Times,/I>’s Science Times section to reveal exactly what’s in store. In the 1980s, Horner began using CAT scans to look inside fossilized dinosaur eggs, and he and his colleagues have been delving deeper ever since. At North Carolina State University, Mary Schweitzer has extracted fossil molecules—proteins that survived 68 million years—from a Tyrannosaurus rex fossil excavated by Horner. These proteins show that T. rex and the modern chicken are kissing cousins. At McGill University, Hans Larsson is manipulating a chicken embryo to awaken the dinosaur within: starting by growing a tail and eventually prompting it to grow the forelimbs of a dinosaur. All of this is happening without changing a single gene. This incredible research is leading to discoveries and applications so profound they’re scary in the power they confer on humanity. How to Build a Dinosauris a tour of the hot rocky deserts and air-conditioned laboratories at the forefront of this scientific revolution. |
Contents
INTRODUCTION | 1 |
TIME SPACE AND DIGGING TO THE PAST | 16 |
ITS A GIRL | 57 |
MOLECULES ARE FOSSILS | 85 |
DINOSAURS AMONG | 114 |
WHERE BABIES COME FROM | 133 |
WAG THE BIRD | 165 |
REVERSE EVOLUTION | 192 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 219 |
Common terms and phrases
ancestors ancient Archaeopteryx avian badlands Barnum Brown bison called cause characteristics chemical chick chicken embryo Chickenosaurus coelurosaur collagen course creatures Cretaceous Deinonychus developmental digits dino dinosaur bone dinosaur DNA discovery embryo embryology evidence evo-devo evolution evolutionary change evolved experiment experimental feathers forelimb fossil bone fossil record Garfield County genes genetic genome grow a dinosaur hatch Hell Creek Formation Horner human idea kind laboratory limbs living look mammals Mary microscope million years ago modern birds molecular biology molecules Montana Museum nonavian dinosaurs notochord organisms osteocalcin osteocytes Ostrom paleontology preserved proteins Prum pygostyle question re-create red blood cells reptiles rewind rock saurs Schweitzer scientific scientists sequence shape skeleton skulls sonic hedgehog sort species structure tail growth teeth tetrapod theropod theropod dinosaurs thousand tion tissue turn Tyrannosaurus Tyrannosaurus rex understanding vertebrate vessels wings