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| Thursday, August 6, 2009 05:31 PM |
| This Is How the World Ends: Not with a Bang, But with a Cluck |
 by Fëanor |
Last night or the night before, poppy and I were watching TV and we happened upon a science show that was really interesting. It seems scientists have discovered that birds are much closer to dinosaurs genetically than we originally thought. In fact, many of the old dinosaur genes are still hanging around in modern birds, they're just turned off, or they're being used to do something else. So these researchers were taking bird eggs, cutting a little hole in them with a saw, and injecting handmade viruses in them to turn the old genes back on. Then they'd check back later on in the embryo's development to see what happened. They had chickens growing dinosaur tails and even rudimentary teeth.
Let me say that again: they were turning chickens into dinosaurs. They were talking about giving them little hands and everything. Chickens with hands!!! A couple of the guys were pretty certain that in a relatively short amount of time, scientists will be able to go all the way and make a full-on dino-chicken.
poppy was pretty horrified by all this, and I have to admit I found it a little disturbing as well. The folks who made the special were quite aware of the terrifying implications, and kept showing clips from Jurassic Park. But despite the potential for deadly horror, I also thought the whole thing was really awesome. I seriously cannot wait until somebody makes a freakish, hideous dino-chicken. That will rule. I mean, that will seriously be amazing. To reach back through time and turn a modern animal into one now lost and extinct. Mad science FTW! |
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