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JURASSIC PARK PREDICTED the emergent ability to de-extinct past species. The 1990 book by Michael Crichton, later adapted by Spielberg as a film, was ahead of the technology curve, as the ability to resurrect extinct species was only first attempted in 2003 with the Pyrenean Ibex (but the offspring did not survive). http://lnkd.in/d-xMhvm View in LinkedIn

NOAH'S SPACESHIP. "Takehito Kaneko, associate professor at Kyoto University: “This may sound like a dream, but we could in future take genetic information into space.” It's a radical plan that would do away with the need for a massive Noah's Ark-style spaceship; genetic material could be regenerated in situ." http://lnkd.in/dF5RhVX View in LinkedIn

ZOOS OF EXTINCT SPECIES ON OTHER PLANETS? "The team has successfully preserved sperm taken from an endangered giraffe, a chimp and a slow loris ... possible for them to store the material at just 4C ... That's crucial for labs in areas prone to earthquakes, flooding or hurricanes, where power cuts could ruin entire laboratories." http://lnkd.in/dF5RhVX View in LinkedIn

ENDANGERED SPECIES SPERM BANKS. "The team at Kyoto University's Institute of Laboratory Animals Graduate School of Medicine, mixed the sperm of the endangered creatures with special preservation liquid. They then freeze-dried it in a way that allows them to store it at just 4 degrees Celsius." http://lnkd.in/dFDcdbj View in LinkedIn

OLIVER RYDER'S FROZEN ZOO. "Thus far having cyropreserved 503 mammals, 170 birds, 70 reptiles, 12 amphibians and fish—a small, and oddly weighted, subsection of extant biodiversity. Yet these cells, kept at a cool -197 degrees Celsius in high-tech camp coolers, remain the last best hope for species like the white rhinoceros that have “gene pools reduced to gene puddles." http://lnkd.in/dYTym8q View in LinkedIn

ENDANGERED SPECIES TISSUE VAULT. "Freezing genetic samples from plant and animal species is all the rage these days, with projects ranging from San Diego's Frozen Zoo to the UK's Frozen Ark. But New York's American Museum of Natural History ... which will be one of the largest such repositories in the country." http://lnkd.in/dTXM3RN View in LinkedIn

CHESTNUT REVIVAL PROJECT. "One of four trees in the great North American forest of yesteryear would have been a chestnut, since felled nearly entirely by a fungal blight imported from Asia ... work splices genetic resistance to the disease into the American chestnut genome ...attempt to breed the tree with its blight-resistant counterpart from China." http://lnkd.in/dYTym8q View in LinkedIn

HEIRLOOM PLANT CULTIVARS. "An heirloom plant ... is an old cultivar that is "still maintained by gardeners and farmers particularly in isolated or ethnic communities". These may have been commonly grown during earlier periods in human history, but are not used in modern large-scale agriculture." http://lnkd.in/dY-cnQU View in LinkedIn

SAHARA DUST STORMS HIT EUROPE. Flying back from a Tokyo to Barcelona, I was deeply struck by a thin yellow ring above European clouds. This was not visible from the earth, looking up through the thin ring, but only when looking parallel along the ring from the plane, or on the far sunset horizon. This fine particulate matter turned to sticky mud at my home upon washing. http://lnkd.in/dzWNf3m View in LinkedIn

FOOD INSECURITY IS ONLY 50 years old. "The increasing worldwide dependency on few crops leaves humankind vulnerable to crop failures. This has occurred in only the last 50 years, with the advent of the 'globalized diet'... a third of today's diversity could disappear by 2050." http:/http://lnkd.in/dRrRmFY View in LinkedIn