Jurassic Park Parody

Where do scientists draw the line between utterly science and something that’s meant to be science fiction? Is whether or not to expand or actively engage in an idea that may potentially cause harm to society really in the question? That’s how it appears when it comes to genetic alterations. Steven Spielberg, director of the popular 1990’s movie Jurassic Park, amplifies a “real life” situation with an animated twist. Despite the screenwriter’s ingenious fictional idea, genetically modifying dinosaurs, the movie was rather Hollywoodesque when it came down to how they were engineered. In the movie, the genetic material was extracted from a mosquito. In the real world, the genetic material (dinosaur DNA) would never last as long as it did in the

Some scientists advocate for the use of genetic alterations with stiff oppositions because if this procedure is done properly there could be many benefits. They see it as a resurrection of society. All the harmful effects humans have had on animals, plants and insects can be reversed because of this prestigious opportunity. In the hopes of all going well, genetically modified plants could possibly be the cure for world hunger. An example of modifying crops would be if a fruit was cross bred with a distinctively diverse organism such as a fish. The fish can survive harsh frigid conditions, so to prolong the fruits life in the winter we can take a gene from the fish, implant it into the fruit and voilá. However, the fruit would need to be properly labeled with what it was crossed with in order to ensure no one could be harmed from a food allergy. Also, in a successful attempt to modify a mosquitoes’ sense of smell, scientist discovered something new in the process. Scientists learned why this insect is so attracted to the scent of humans and how they can mask that attraction. They are learning more information than expected through the process. Brian Switek, author of What Could Live in a Real Jurassic Park? A Chickenosaurus, declares, “The real goal of these studies is understanding the relationship between genetic change, development, and anatomy.” He claims that scientists are thinking outside the norm and experimenting with what is called reverse engineering. Scientists have altered birds’, the “living dinosaurs,” genes in order to construct a custom dinosaur that is similar in appearance to a Velociraptor. “In 2006 biologist Matthew Harris found that chicken embryos can grow rudimentary teeth.”