How to Build a Dinosaur (Compact Disc)

While the world anxiously awaits the long-promised invention of the flying car or personal jet pack, a more recent imaginative science-fiction event may be close to becoming a reality. Paleontologist Jack Horner, a scientific advisor to Steven Spielberg on JURASSIC PARK, and New York Times science writer James Gorman discuss the possibility of using genetics and DNA to awaken species from the eternal slumber of extinction. While the authors are quick to caution that the fantastic inhabitants of the dino-theme park first imagined by Michael Crichton will remain safely contained in the realm of fiction, they show how earlier links in the evolutionary chain may be re-created in a laboratory in the near future. Scientists in the emerging field of "evo devo," or evolutionary development, may soon be able to biologically produce a bird with certain characteristics, such as scales or a tail, of its dinosaur ancestors, in order to observe how those features changed over time, thus providing a clearer picture of the evolutionary processes which define our own development.

Author:

Gorman, James

ISBN:

9781400111411

Format:

Audio

Publish Date:

04/20/2009

Publisher:

Tantor Media Inc

Language:

English

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