IS JURASSIC PARK POSSIBLE?
by T.J. Resler

In the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movies, scientists bring back dinosaurs that have been extinct for at least 65 million years. (Spoiler alert: Bad idea.) Is this purely fiction, or could we actually see a Brachiosaurus, Triceratops or T. rex stomping around a theme park someday? To clone, which means to recreate, an extinct dino, you need some of its DNA. DNA is a special material inside every living thing that carries all the instructions for what it’ll be like, including how it will look and what it can do (DNA is shaped kind of like a teeny-tiny spiral staircase, but it takes a very powerful, very specialized microscope to see it.)

In the movies, scientists find fragments of dinosaur DNA in the blood of an ancient mosquito. The mosquito had gotten stuck in gooey tree resin, which fossilized into hard amber. The scientists extract the DNA fragments, fill in gaps with other animals’ DNA to get a full strand of DNA, and tinker a bit along the way. Then they clone lots of darling baby dinos…which grow up to be not-so-darling adult dinos. The main challenge in creating a real-life Jurassic Park is finding dinosaur DNA. Is it locked away in amber, Jurassic Parkstyle? Amber does a great job of preserving all kinds of cool things, like fossilized flowers, insects and even tiny lizards. But DNA? Nope. A team of researchers tried to extract DNA from a couple of bees caught in tree resin that wasn’t even hardened into amber yet — and they couldn’t do it. It turns out that amber (and resins in general) aren’t great at preserving DNA.

But that isn’t the biggest problem. As soon as something dies, its DNA begins to decay. Water, sunlight, microbes in soil, even other gunk in the creature’s own body, all cause chemical reactions that mess up the DNA. “All of these things will break down the DNA into smaller and more degraded pieces until, eventually, there is nothing left,” biologist Beth Shapiro, an expert on ancient DNA, told Live Science. It takes a long time for DNA to degrade completely. Scientists think DNA can last 1.2 million years, maybe even 3 million (some say 6 million) under certain conditions. They’ve identified DNA from a 70,000-year-old Neanderthal fossil, a 700,000-year-old ancient horse bone, and even a one million-year-old woolly mammoth tooth. But a dinosaur from 65 million to 245 million years ago?

Researchers recently discovered something that looks kind of like DNA in a really well-preserved 125 million year-old fossil of a peacock-sized dinosaur called Caudipteryx and in a 76 million-year-old duck-billed dinosaur called Hypacrosaurus. But they have no idea if it’s really from the dinosaurs; it could be from a microbe or something like a worm that crawled by more recently. i And even if it really is dinosaur DNA, it may be seriously messed up. So a real-life Jurassic Park may not be possible (sorry, dino fans). But Woolly Mammoth Park? Maybe! Woolly mammoths — the shaggy, long-tusked relatives of today’s elephants and the best-known of all the mammoths — first appeared about 300,000 years ago during the Pleistocene epoch, which included the Ice Age. That means their DNA is not anywhere near as old as dino DNA. And, yes, scientists have successfully extracted DNA fragments from the teeth of multiple mammoths, which lived in a frigid area that is now Siberia. Some of the DNA, from an ancestor of the woolly mammoth, was 1.1 million to 1.2 million years old! The cold environment of northern Siberia, where there are large areas of permafrost (permanently frozen ground), helped preserve the mammoth DNA. The mammoth DNA survived because it was more deep-frozen than fossilized, the science and tech website Gizmodo reported. Teams of scientists from nine countries pieced together the mammoth DNA fragments to learn about mammoths and how they evolved. Now a group of scientists wants to see herds of woolly mammoths wandering across the i Arctic tundra again.

They are working on bringing them back — a process they call “de-extinction.” They plan to insert traits from a woolly mammoth into the DNA of an Asian elephant, the mammoth’s closest living relative. They’d pick the most mammoth-like traits, like its shaggy coat and ability to withstand the cold. Then they would clone the animals. To be honest, it wouldn’t create a true woolly mammoth, but more of a hybrid woolly mammoth-Asian elephant or a “mammophant.” But, if everything goes according to plan, the animal will look and act like a woolly mammoth. Just like in the Jurassic Park movies, not everyone is enthusiastic about the idea of bringing extinct animals back to life. Even if scientists can bring back woolly mammoths, should they? The idea raises a lot of questions about right and wrong. What if the environment has changed too much for woolly mammoths to thrive now? What if the plants they used to eat no longer exist? Or what if the elephants who would raise the first mammophants don’t accept them? And then there’s the question of people. Many more people live in the Arctic now than when woolly mammoths roamed the earth. Other scientists think it would be better to use the process to keep currently endangered animals from going extinct. Scientists could insert traits into animals to make them healthier or to help them adapt faster to climate change, which threatens the habitats of many animals. The scientists working to de-extinct woolly mammoths point out that the animals could help restore aspects of the tundra ecosystem that have suffered since the animals went extinct. Eventually, the scientists would like to see herds of woolly mammophants wandering freely through the tundra. But the first few would be safeguarded in a nature reserve in Siberia. And what would they call this reserve? Pleistocene Park!

How Mount Olympus is Like a Cell

Have you ever looked at your own cells? No, of course not. You’re a mortal and you don’t have the power or technology to do that. Maybe some day in the future we shall grant humans the power of microscopic vision. Who knows? That’s up to Zeus. Cells are amazing things. Each one is individually different.

When I first looked at my own cells I thought, “WOW there is nothing like this in the whole world.” I was wrong. Recently, I came to the realization that my own dear Mount Olympus is very much like a cell itself. There are many components in a cells that can also, in a way, be found on Mount Olympus. The structure of a cell and the components within are very like Mount Olympus.  i

What? You don’t believe me? Well fine! Come on. I’ll show you. i

Oh, and by the way my name is Eos and I’m the Greek goddess of dawn. I’m responsible for the rising of the sun. Be careful and follow me. Don’t let anyone else see you. Mortals aren’t allowed up her. Let’s go.

In an animal cell, the cell membrane controls i what enters and leaves the cell. There are small pores that allow things of different sizes through. Up her, on Olympus what keeps the mortals from entering. or leaving (if they are to be kept here) is an instilled fear of us. Mortals dare not enter unless told to by one of the gods or goddesses. They dare not leave either.

Now, all of you stand still. No, it’s okay. This is just a powder that will make you invisible. Nobody move or make a sound. Got it? If you do, it will be your life wasted. I just have to check to make sure that neither Zeus or Hera are in their throne room…Okay, we can go in. Just go silently and quickly! This is Zeus and Hera’s throne room, which is very similar to the nucleus of a cell i . In a cell, the nucleus is the control center of activity on a cellular level. It’s from here that Zeus and Hera control the happenings of immortals and mortals alike. It’s like the control center for the world.

Holy Zeus! Someone’s coming in. It’s Zeus himself! Quick into here. No noise, no movement, no nothing! Those of you who can peer through the window, do so. You’ll be able to see the head god himself! Zeus and his wife, Hera, control the gods, goddesses, and mortals. They are like the chromosomes in a cell. i In a cell, the chromosomes determine what kind of cell it will be and how it acts. That is what Zeus and Hera do in the world.

In a cell, the ribosomes turn amino acids into proteins. On Mount Olympus we  make many things like laws, rules, and the weather. However, i the most material thing that we make are lightning bolts. Of course, only Zeus can actually make them. Although i others can use them if they have his permission. See how Zeus only uses his left hand for tasks? That is because i his right hand is used to make lightening. Like the ribosomes, his hand takes raw materials (the abundant plasma and energy up here) and creates a whole new product (lightning.) His hand is like a the ribosomes in a cell.

Good, Zeus is leaving. This closet is starting to get stuffy. We should go quickly out into the hall. Now take a right, then a left into here. This is the courtyard. Immortals don’t have to eat, but we do it for the pleasure of it. Also, eating helps keep us healthy and happy. The fountains flow with sweet juices and wines. The trees have the best fruits possible. That table over there is always supplied with the most delectable food imaginable. Those chests that are spread around are filled with gold and jewels for our taking. Wearing these helps enhance our godly image. This courtyard represents the vacuoles in a cell. In the vacuoles, large amounts of what the cell needs are stored. Here large amounts of what immortals thrive on is stored.

Don’t be alarmed. Those are our mortal slaves. They won’t tell on us because I have ordered them not to. In an animal cell, mitochondria store energy and release it when necessary. They power the cell. Here on Mount Olympus, we could not get by with out thee slaves. They perform almost every task that can even slight be considered laborious. The energy they get from food is stored in their bodies and released in order to do tasks.

In a cell, the ER, or endoplasmic reticulum, help to move substances around the cell. The halls and paths we’ve been following are very similar to the ER, they are like the roads that contain all movement.

Quick, into this room here. That was Hermes the messenger god. Now that I think of it, he is very much like the golgi bodies in a cell. The golgi bodies package and ship substances from place to place in a cell. Hermes, similarly wraps items up in goat skin and takes them from one person, immortal, or Titan to another.

Now, let’s go back to the entrance. You should go. Soon every god, goddess, demi-god, and demi-goddess will be coming. There is a big meeting tonight. So they were all summoned here. By now, I’m sure you can see how Mount Olympus is structured like a cell. Just follow that path down there until you get home. Wait, the day is almost over and it’ll get dark. Each of you swallow some of this powder. There, this enables you to fly, which is much faster than walking. If you promise not to tell anyone about this and you can go. You swear? Okay, good bye. i