Beth Shapiro
How to Clone a Mammoth
Wednesday, November 30, 7:30 PM
Atherton Union, Reilly Room
BCR Credit and Co-Curricular Event
Could extinct species, like mammoths and passenger pigeons, be brought back to life? Is it possible to clone extinct species using the same or similar technologies that created Dolly the sheep in the 1990s? What are the chances that the science fiction of “Jurassic Park” will someday become science fact? In this lecture, Beth Shapiro, ancient DNA scientist and author of “How to Clone a Mammoth,” will discuss the real science behind the emerging idea known as “de-extinction.” From deciding which species should be restored, to sequencing and editing their genomes, to anticipating how revived populations might be overseen in the wild, she will walk through the process of resurrecting extinct species, considering the technical, ethical and ecological challenges of de-extinction as well as its potential benefits. While she argues that it may never be possible to bring back an identical copy of a species that has gone extinct, de-extinction technology is likely to provide a new solutions to revitalize and stabilize contemporary ecosystems, with benefits to the preservation of existing biodiversity.
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