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De-Extinction Research Paper

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The Ethics of De-Extinction

The concept of bringing a species back to life after it has gone extinct has been around for years. The idea that dinosaurs will roam the earth again has fascinated mankind since the first dinosaur fossils were first put together. Pop culture has even glorified this idea in a variety of books and movies made about the topic, such as the famous Jurassic Park trilogy. In science fiction, there are many ideas people have about brining the extinct back to life. Some of these theories have a grain of truth to it, but today, the idea of bringing back a species is no longer science fiction, but will likely be possible in the near future. This process is called De-Extinction. The most recent developments in genetic extraction, …show more content…

Scientists in 2009 attempted to clone an extinct species of wild goat, the Pyrenean Ibex, otherwise known as the bucardo. After many attempts, one surrogate goat mother became pregnant and gave birth. Unfortunately, the babe died in just moments after birth. However this cloning took place only seven years after the cloning of dolly the sheep in 2002, the first successfully cloned mammal. Making the jump from cloning being impossible to nearly reviving a dead species just seven years later shows proof how quickly this incredible technology is advances. It has now been over a decade since the cloning of the bucardo, and the technology available now would very likely produce a healthy clone. The only question now is, should we? Some in favor of de-extinction argue for the possible medical benefits that could be learned by furthering research in this field. Most pharmaceutical drugs are not made from scratch, but instead derived from natural compounds found in wild plants, or animals. Innumerable species have gone extinct before science even had to opportunity to attempt to research them. Bringing species back gives us the unique opportunity to study these species of plants and animals to learn from

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