Bringing Animals Back to Life
—James Baron
In the 1993 science fiction movie Jurassic Park, scientists brought dinosaurs back to life by using the DNA of animals that died long ago. Today, similar technology might be used to help revive extinct species.
One animal that scientists hope to bring back is the northern white rhino, which actually isn't extinct yet but soon will be. Only two female and one male of this species remain in the world, and all three are elderly and incapable of mating. Seeing the threat of extinction, scientists began collecting cell samples from this rhino species. They hope to put these cells into sperm from the last male and eggs from the remaining females to create embryos. In the future, these embryos might be put into female southern white rhinos, which could give birth to northern white rhinos, their close relatives.
There's no guarantee this process will work, as special instruments need to be developed for the female rhino's anatomy. Furthermore, for some, the problem isn't about whether it can be done, but whether it should be done.
基因複製動物可行嗎？
在一九九三年的科幻電影《侏羅紀公園》中，科學家利用早已死亡動物的脫氧核糖核酸（DNA）來使恐龍復活。今天，類似的科技可能被用來幫助絕種的物種復活。
科學家希望復育的一種動物是北非白犀牛，事實上尚未絕種，但即將要絕種。這個物種全世界只剩下兩隻雌性及一隻雄性犀牛，而這三隻全都年老而無法交配。眼看著物種滅絕的威脅在即，科學家開始收集這種犀牛的細胞樣本。他們希望將這些細胞放到最後一隻雄犀牛的精子以及僅存雌犀牛的卵子中來製作胚胎。在未來，這些胚胎可能被放進雌性的南非白犀牛體內，牠們可能生下近親北非白犀牛。
沒有人能保證這個過程會奏效，因為需要研發特殊的儀器來了解雌犀牛的身體構造。此外，對有些人來說，問題不在於是否能成功，而在於是否應該這麼做。
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