Türlerin Yeni Kökeni: Sayısı Tükenen Hayvanlar İçin İkinci Bir Şans

by Torill Kornfeldt, Zafer Avşar (Translator)

Pek çok kayıp tür dünyada tekrar yürüyecek gibi görünüyor, ama bu bize nasıl bir dünya verecek? Ve bu iyi bir fikir mi? Jurassic Park filmlerinde, coşkularına ve merak duygularına yenilen bilim insanlarının laboratuvarda ürettikleri dinozorların sağa sola saldırdıklarını gördük. Devrimci bilginin ve tanrısal güçlere sahip olmanın bedelinin ağır olabileceği, kıssadan hisse beynimize kazınmış oldu. Aynı zamanda tam da bu güdüden yoksun olursak artık insan olamayacağımız fikri de bir kez daha vurgulandı.

Sibirya’nın permafrostundan California’ya kadar dünyanın dört bir yanındaki bilim adamları, binlerce yıldan beri soyu tükenmiş olan hayvanları üretmek için çalışıyorlar. Bu uğraşta hem fosilleri hem de en son genetik teknolojileri kullanıyorlar. Bu bilim insanlarından bazıları sırf meraktan hareket ediyor; diğerleri, kaybolan türleri hızla yok olan ekosistemleri kurtarma mücadelesinde güçlü bir silah olarak görüyor.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Biology, Nature, Animals, Audiobook, Natural History

224 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2016

About the author

Torill Kornfeldt är vetenskapsjournalist, författare och föreläsare med fokus på biologi och bioteknik. Hennes första bok, Mammutens återkomst, kom ut i september 2016.

Reviews

[Divya · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm working on a longer review for this book, but I will say this for now. It is a fantastic book for all people alike, the writing is lilting, clear, and effective, and the author truly brings together disparate opinions on the fairly controversial topic of bringing back extinct animals, alive and in the wild. The most unique feature of the book is the voice of the author, which trembles with uncertainty, fills with hope, shivers a little, and ponders the whys and hows of de-extinction, reflecting the reader's mind in trying to reach a solution, in making a decision on which side of the fence to stay.

Please please read, if you're even remotely interested in science, how the world, nature, and brains of different scientists work, or even just dinosaurs or mammoths traipsing around the landscape. I cannot recommend it enough.

[Scribe Publications]

Pick up this book and you’ll be glued to its pages, and soon convinced that bioengineering will continue to change the world in ways difficult to imagine.
Good Reading 4.5 Stars

Reading The Re-Origin of Species was a delightful adventure. Torill Kornfeldt took me by the hand and led me all around the world, and back through history, teaching me about how extinction works and how the restoration of all kinds of species, from the woolly mammoth to feathered dinosaurs, just may be a part of our future.
Tim Urban, Wait But Why?

[T]his excellent book, written with a deceptively light touch (in Fiona Graham’s translation) … raises a number of deep questions and paradoxes about our relationship with nature.
The Guardian

[E]xpresses the full complexity of this topic in a lighthearted, masterful way, raising critical questions … which guide the reader to develop informed opinions about how humankind can limit the ongoing destruction of nature.
Adelaide Advertiser

The author's careful synthesis of accomplishment versus aspiration is also spot-on—even world-class scientists will be dreamers, and there is much more research to be conducted before mammoths once again lumber across the tundra. Wondrous tales of futuristic science experiments that happen to be true.
Kirkus Reviews

Any number of terms apply to Torill Kornfeldt's fascinating overview of this profoundly important subject: clear-eyed. Skeptical. Open-minded. But the word that sticks with me is one I haven't had cause to use in a very long time: hopeful. The Re-Origin of Species gives me hope.
Peter Watts, author of Blindsight and Starfish

It’s less like reading a college text book and more like reading about a famous explorer digging into cultures not seen since the dawn of time. It’s like Indiana Jones light, for the scientist.
Adventures in Poor Taste

Extinction might not be forever! ... Free of most scientific jargon, Kornfeldt’s book is an eye-opening introduction to an important new field of study that”s well fit for public library audiences.
Booklist

Kornfeldt interviews researchers intent on recreating mammoths and passenger pigeons, saving the northern white rhino, and reintroducing chestnut trees to North America.
Publishers Weekly

This thought-provoking and deeply engaging book throws into the question the very meanings of life and death as we understand them. STARRED REVIEW
Shelf Awareness

The projects Kornfeldt writes about are incredibly compelling, given that we are living through a mass-extinction event that threatens the stability of the world’s ecosystems.
The New Yorker

In her cleverly titled book, The Re-origin of the Species, Swedish science journalist Torill Kornfeldt examines the world’s most famous (or perhaps most infamous) attempts to resurrect extinct species ... Crisscrossing the globe to interview the world’s leading experts on de-extinction, she offers her personal impressions of their laboratories, their research, and even their motivations ... The Re-Origin of the Species is a welcome addition to the growing corpus on de-extinction, and a strong debut by a gifted writer.
Abraham H. Gibson, The Quarterly Review of Biology, Stony Brook University

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eye-opening to me, scientific research is being done on bringing back extinct species of both animals and plants. The author, a scientist herself, travels around the world, beginning and ending in Siberia, to indicate the various types of research being done and on what. She speaks with a family in Siberia interested in crossing an elephant with genes of the wooly mammoth and repopulating the land with them. By so doing they hope to make the land as it used to be in ancient days--mostly grassy steppe. All of the scientists she speaks with use some aspect of gene technology or frozen cells for their "pet" animal or plant: the American chestnut tree, the passenger pigeon, dinosaurs, etc. The only experiment so far successful is growing a snout and teeth in chickens, who come from a branch of dinosaurs which gave rise to birds. The danger would be unintended consequences, such as when a 19th century scientist released all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare in the U.S., and how one species, the starling, has become ubiquitous in the U.S. But scientists are aware of this fact and desire to discover new knowledge and improve our planet while avoiding this. I decry the lack of an index. I consider one essential for a nonfiction book. The author's notes were full and complete, though.

I thank LibraryThing for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't really have time to give this book the in depth review it deserves. It is a really interesting account by the author of the scientists and science of bringing back extinct animals.

There is a moderate amount about the gentics, but certainly no more than any common reader should be able to easily follow. There is a fair bit about the ecology behind these projects; how speices affected the environment and how environmental degradation can be expected, in some cases, to be reduced by bringing species back.

There are separate chapters about Russian projects to protect steppe environment and others about people trying to bring back mammoths.

There is an excellent segment about the American extinction of the passenger Pidgeon, dinosaur DNA retrieval issues and more. I enjoyed it a fair bit, though I found some parts of it quite odd in attitude and expectations: In one part a chapter starts about the Jurassic park movies (specifically movies, not the book) and states that 'of course' Jurassic park is the first thing people think about in terms of 'a second chance for extinct animals'. Well, no, not me. The first thing I think about is the Tasmanian Tiger - but that is me, I feel that the Tassie tiger and other Australian extinctions could have featured a bit more heavily, but the author is Swedish after all, so I can see why they did not. She is much more into aurochs and mammoths.

The implications for human use of the genetic techniques being studied is talked about very sensibly. The dichotomy between scientist trying to protect environments and those trying to bring back genetic material from extinct species.... Not sure that this actually reflects reality, I can't see why these are presented as either/or options. And the repeated statements by various interviews and the author about how 'we all want to protect the environment' just had me shaking my head. If even HALF the world cared about preventing environment loss and species extinction we would not be in the mess we are today.

The segment with the psychology professor ruminating about how releasing resurrected species into the environment *may* or *may not* affect people's enjoyment of the environment also left me shaking my head. Yes, people have positive affects from being 'in nature' (or at least some of us do) but there is not virtually no nature on earth unaffected by human -she does realise this surely - and most people cant even tell the difference. Plus, at the rate we are going, we may well end up with NO nature to enjoy and very possibly with US on the extinction list before too many more generations are past. So worrying about whether a birch tree is genetically modified to resist disease seems to me to be a pretty odd value system.

Still, overall, a very good book, very well researched, nicely written and well translated. I very much do recommend.

[Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit basic - not bad but definitely for pop-science readers without a background in the field. The writing is definitely wayyyy more engaging than most nonfiction books out there though - so I’ll give it that! :)

[Scribe Publications]

Pick up this book and you’ll be glued to its pages, and soon convinced that bioengineering will continue to change the world in ways difficult to imagine.
Good Reading 4.5 Stars

Reading The Re-Origin of Species was a delightful adventure. Torill Kornfeldt took me by the hand and led me all around the world, and back through history, teaching me about how extinction works and how the restoration of all kinds of species, from the woolly mammoth to feathered dinosaurs, just may be a part of our future.
Tim Urban, Wait But Why?

[T]his excellent book, written with a deceptively light touch (in Fiona Graham’s translation) … raises a number of deep questions and paradoxes about our relationship with nature.
The Guardian

[E]xpresses the full complexity of this topic in a lighthearted, masterful way, raising critical questions … which guide the reader to develop informed opinions about how humankind can limit the ongoing destruction of nature.
Adelaide Advertiser

The author's careful synthesis of accomplishment versus aspiration is also spot-on—even world-class scientists will be dreamers, and there is much more research to be conducted before mammoths once again lumber across the tundra. Wondrous tales of futuristic science experiments that happen to be true.
Kirkus Reviews

Any number of terms apply to Torill Kornfeldt's fascinating overview of this profoundly important subject: clear-eyed. Skeptical. Open-minded. But the word that sticks with me is one I haven't had cause to use in a very long time: hopeful. The Re-Origin of Species gives me hope.
Peter Watts, author of Blindsight and Starfish

It’s less like reading a college text book and more like reading about a famous explorer digging into cultures not seen since the dawn of time. It’s like Indiana Jones light, for the scientist.
Adventures in Poor Taste

Extinction might not be forever! ... Free of most scientific jargon, Kornfeldt’s book is an eye-opening introduction to an important new field of study that”s well fit for public library audiences.
Booklist

Kornfeldt interviews researchers intent on recreating mammoths and passenger pigeons, saving the northern white rhino, and reintroducing chestnut trees to North America.
Publishers Weekly

This thought-provoking and deeply engaging book throws into the question the very meanings of life and death as we understand them. STARRED REVIEW
Shelf Awareness

The projects Kornfeldt writes about are incredibly compelling, given that we are living through a mass-extinction event that threatens the stability of the world’s ecosystems.
The New Yorker

In her cleverly titled book, The Re-origin of the Species, Swedish science journalist Torill Kornfeldt examines the world’s most famous (or perhaps most infamous) attempts to resurrect extinct species ... Crisscrossing the globe to interview the world’s leading experts on de-extinction, she offers her personal impressions of their laboratories, their research, and even their motivations ... The Re-Origin of the Species is a welcome addition to the growing corpus on de-extinction, and a strong debut by a gifted writer.
Abraham H. Gibson, The Quarterly Review of Biology, Stony Brook University

[Luana · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 (-.5 only because of technical formatting flaws in regards to her footnotes. This author has the best footnotes I have ever come across. They are positively packed with extra, often engaging information and fantastic links to other online and print resources but did not have any embedded reference points for them. I only knew they were there because I have a habit of going to the back first.)

De-extinction. With the advances that have been made in gene technology there are scientists around the world to whom this is now a future possibility. One that they are working on today and are already seeing things and results that would have been thought impossible a few years ago and while we are not quite at the point of recreating a T-Rex, from the blood of a fossilised mosquito yet, one project has successfully reverse engineered a reptilean/crocodilean snout on an embryonic chicken. An embryo that for obvious ethical reasons was not brought to term.

It is into this world, of scientific curiosity and enthusiasm tempered by caution of possible impacts, that Torill Kornfeldt, a science journalist, ventures to interview scientists who around the world are involved in various attempts to bring back lost species - for some of these scientists this has and will be their life's work, so passionate and committed as they are to what they see as the importance of their work in not only bringing back a lost species but also in creating a richer, wilder environment that would come with each reintroduction. For George Church this would come from reintroducing the Mammoth to Siberia and the way it would naturally terraform it's environs; for Stewart it is an ambitiously optimistic vision of bioabundance - with cod in the sea back to its old larger scale self; for Ben Novak, born in 1987, from the age of 14 it has been the reintroduction of the passenger pigeon and to see it in its vast swoops acting as a regenerating forest fire for sections of wild land (he does acknowledge that with the vast swoops come vast amounts of pigeon poop); and yes, there is a dinosaur dude among many more (but he does not intend that there should be herds of dinos in the wild rather perhaps "chicken sized dinosaur pets"p185).

This book however, is not just a exploration of the science and scientists behind these de-extinction projects - though it definitely is satisfyingly rich in these areas, full of intriguing material such as the fact that scientists have managed to reconstruct the molecule in the mammoth haemoglobin, needed to supply oxygen to body parts exposed to the extreme cold, necessary as the ordinary molecule of an elephant would not have been able to supply the oxygen needed.
No, in addition to exploring science, the book is also a philosophical enquiry into both what it means for the individual species under the resurrection scope and also what it means for efforts going into conserving today's ecosystems, the ethics, the politics and the people involved. It especially gets interesting when discussion centres on how gene tech can not just bring back extinct species but also increase the genetic diversity of current species in danger of inbreeding because of a scarcity of numbers or problems caused by a genetic bottleneck.

The other aspect that I really enjoyed in this book was how throughout it the authors voice was clear both in her love of science, even when she was feeling a bit cautious about some of the possible Frankensteinean elements, and her openness and appreciation of her interview subjects. Moreover, she had an observational humour that came through at moments either when recounting her journey or when recounting the history leading up to some excerpts. To give a brief example of this I'll insert the beginning of chapter 10, which is devoted to the auroch:
When the Red Army was marching on Berlin, Hermann Goring is said to have gone out to his country estate, Carinhall, and personally shot his cattle to prevent their falling into Russian hands. His sense of priorities may strike us as being more than usually unhinged for a man about to lose a war. Presumably, Goring was convinced that he was acting in the best interst of the Aryans - the Aryan breed of cattle, that is, rather than some human variety. The thing is, he believed his cattle were aurochs....

As mentioned, at the beginning of the review, I loved Torill's fulsome footnotes (even after the book is finished they will still keep me going for a while) and I thought I would just add a snippit of a sampling here below: Her whole list can be found here on her website http://kornfeldt.com/notes-and-furthe...

Chapter 1: Can I See Sarah Palin’s House from Here?

The history of Chersky and the whole of eastern Siberia is fascinating, as is the town’s development after the fall of the Soviet Union. Here is an Associated Press news article about the time after the collapse of the USSR: ‘Isolated Siberian Town Shrivels after Soviet Era’ (2011) http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/...

The research station’s homepage is: http://terrychapin.org/station.html

Neanderthals used mammoth bones to build houses. Research into the subject is summarised in a news article: ‘Neanderthal Home Made of Mammoth Bones Discovered in Ukraine’ (December 2011) Quaternary International, vol. 247, pp. 1–362, https://phys.org/news/2011-12-neander...

The scientific article in which Nikita and Sergey Zimov try to calculate how many animals lived on the mammoth steppe and compare the result with the population of Africa: ‘Mammoth Steppe: a high-productivity phenomenon’ (December 2012) Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 57, pp. 26–45, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/...

Calculations of when the first humans came to Siberia are based on the carbon 14 dating method: ‘The Yana RHS Site: humans in the Arctic before the last glacial maximum’ (2004) Science, http://science.sciencemag.org/content...

New scientific articles about what happened to the mammoths appear regularly. An example is: ‘Abrupt Warming Events Drove Late Pleistocene Holarctic Megafaunal Turnover’ (July 2015) Science, http://science.sciencemag.org/content...

Beth Shapiro writes about the extinction of the mammoth in the following scientific article: ‘Pattern of Extinction of the Woolly Mammoth in Beringia’ (June 2012) Nature Communications, vol. 3, https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomm...

‘Remaining continental mammoths, now concentrated in the north, disappeared in the early Holocene with development of extensive peatlands, wet tundra, birch shrubland and coniferous forest. Long sympatry in Siberia suggests that humans may be best seen as a synergistic cofactor in that extirpation. The extinction of island populations occurred at ~4 ka. Mammoth extinction was not due to a single cause, but followed a long trajectory in concert with changes in climate, habitat and human presence.’

See also: ‘Life and Extinction of Megafauna in the Ice-Age Arctic’ (September 2015) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), vol. 112, http://www.pnas.org/content/112/46/14...

Questions about whether mammoths lived at the same time as the pyramids were being built proliferate on the internet, and I have seen many different answers. This is mine. The last mammoths died out about 4,000 years ago, and the pyramids at Giza were completed by around 2,560 BC (just over 4,500 years ago). By that time, there were no longer any mammoths living on the mainland, only on remote islands. See: ‘Radiocarbon Dating Evidence for Mammoths on Wrangel Island, Arctic Ocean’ (1995) Radiocarbon, vol. 37, pp. 1–6, https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/ind...

The trade in mammoth tusks is both open and covert. The estimate of 55 tonnes comes from a news article in National Geographic, which is well worth reading and beautifully illustrated: ‘Of Mammoths and Men’ (April 2013), http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/201...

‘Nearly 90 percent of all mammoth tusks hauled out of Siberia — estimated at more than 60 tons a year, though the actual figure may be higher — end up in China, where legions of the newly rich are entranced by ivory.’

[Eva Holmquist · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tankeväckande och intressant bok om den forskning på pågår kring att återuppväcka utdöda djur!
Tanken på att återuppväcka utdöda djur är fascinerande och en smula skrämmande. Helst som det också finns tankar på att släppa ut dem i naturen efteråt...
Som Torill skriver i boken har det ofta slutat med katastrof när vi infört nya djur på nya platser och då har det ändå varit djur vars beteende vi känt till. Släppa ut genmanipulerade djur som vi inte vet särskilt mycket om känns vågat. Det finns mycket att fundera kring den forskning som pågår och Torill presenterar sakligt både entusiasternas argument och kritikernas på ett sätt som gör att det går att bilda sig en egen uppfattning. Hon ställer också många av de jobbiga frågor som vi behöver diskutera.
Sammanfattningsvis är det en både intressant och tankeväckande bok som också lärde mig mer om vad som faktiskt är möjligt nu och inom en relativt nära framtid. Samtidigt är den lätt och rolig att läsa. Rekommenderar den verkligen!

[Tove Selenius · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vansinnigt intressant om de mer eller mindre knäppa forskare som håller på att återuppliva utrotade djur. Okej, jag är partisk, men det förändrar inte saken.

[Tonstant Weader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was reading The Re-Origin of Species when He Jiankui announced he had edited the genes of two babies to make them resistant to the AIDS virus. When noted geneticist George Church rushed to his defense, it made sense considering what he had to say in this book. After all, he’s trying to create a mammoth. People were surprised by Church’s defense of He, but that’s because they had not read this book.

The Re-Origin of Species is an around-the-world tour of people working on reviving past species using all sorts of different approaches. Some, like Church, are working on searching for mammoth genes, finding fragments and piecing them together like a jigsaw puzzle in order to create a complete piece of DNA they can use to create some Asian elephant and mammoth hybrid that can replace the mammoth in Siberia, restoring the land to good health and perhaps saving the permafrost. Some would rather use what they learn from mammoth genes to alter the Asian elephant so it can live in the colder Siberian steppes since it is losing habitat.

Torill Kornfeldt goes from Siberia to the US to Europe and back to Siberia in her quest to understand the people working on resurrecting extinct species. There are several strategies employed, from trying to recreate the genetic map of the mammoth to trying to cross-breed several living species to create the characteristics of an extinct animal so this new critter could serve the same role in the environment.

There are good reasons to revive lost species or a simulacrum of them. For example, the loss of passenger pigeons may contribute to the massive wildfires in the West. The return of the mammoth could transform the landscape in ways that may save the permafrost and keep it from releasing the carbon and methane that would speed up climate change. Bringing back aurochs, or something like them could create a more diverse ecology in Europe.

I enjoyed The Re-Origin of Species very much. Kornfeldt has the good reporter’s ability to explain quickly and with clarity. She also paints the landscape with vivid imagery. She not only explores the various efforts of de-extinction, but also the conflicts, controversies, and ethical dilemmas. You can almost feel her wavering from one side to the other and she makes a good case for conservationists and de-extinctionists to talk more to each other.

I was fascinated by the idea that large herbivores like the auroch and the mammoth could change the environment in ways that would create a healthier, more diverse landscape. This book reminds us of what we have lost but gives us hope that something new may be found. I found myself thinking many of the ideas, some in conflict with each other, made a lot of sense. Kornfeldt even provides a handy list of pros and cons at the end.

One objection to de-extinction seemed very nonpersuasive to me. Susan Clayborn, a psychologist, thinks it would change our relationship with nature because we would feel less humbled by its vastness and variety. She fears that knowing we could bring back a species would reduce the beneficial effect people receive from spending time in nature. It’s as though she has never heard of dominion theology or seen mankind’s profligate assumption that nature is our servant, one we can exploit without regard for its well-being and health. We have erased many species from the face of the earth, I don’t think restoring a few of them will make us feel much differently.

This is a fascinating and timely book. We are already seeing the effects of climate change. The permafrost is melting. Who knew that we might find some way to mitigate that by looking to long-lost species.

I received a review copy of The Re-Origin of Species from the publisher.

The Re-Origin of Species: A Second Chance for Extinct Animals at Scribe Publications
Notes and further reading from the author
Torill Kornfeldt author site


https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...

[Manuel Monge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Torill Kornfeldt is a science journalist from Sweden. He traveled the world in search for evidence of an unparalleled quest in the history of humanity: the resurrection of extinct species. His trips include different parts of Siberia, labs in Boston and California, Africa, etc. What he finds are examples of current experiments and research in genetic modification of cells from the remaining of animals that are no longer among us or on current animals that are genetically similar to their ancestors, so we, at some point not too far from today, can bring these animals back from the dead. Creepy, isn't it? What Kornfeld shows is no longer the script of a science fiction movie. These scientists are getting closer and closer to breakthroughs that can bring the mammoth back to life, redeploy the white rhinos in the African savanna or populate the skies with the passenger pigeon. Kornfeldt interviews these scientist to understand their motivation, their goals and how close they are to achieve them. But he also talks with other experts about the ethics behind these scientific endeavors. He helps the reader ask the same questions he did for himself about the unintended consequences of bringing back species that are extinct since tenths of thousands of years to a world that is no longer the same. Is it because we can? Is it suffice to allow humans to "play" with nature just because our intelligence has no limits? Or should our intelligence be the mean to stop playing God, like in the tale of Prometheus playing with the Gods' fire?

The scientific content of this book is sufficient to understand what's behind these experiments and what the scientists are using to find the link that would make us see these species wandering through the Siberian steppe or flying like clouds over the woods in Canada and the U.S.. But it's not only a scientific book. In my view, this is a book about the ethics of the human role in controlling and manipulating nature. It's about the never-ending conflict between our vision to bring a benefit to humanity and with that, hopefully to the entire world, and the unpredictable effects of our scientific work. Most scientists interviewed in this book have the goal to rebalance the ecosystems that were altered by the extinction of important species, so that the deterioration of our climates, grounds and waters can slow down and hopefully recess. However, the hypothesis about how the new species - they will not be the same as the ones we regard - will live, thrive and affect the ecosystems are impossible to demonstrate in the labs. It's only when and if these animals are placed back in their planned habitats that we'll see the real impact. A little scary would be an understatement. But it triggers interesting discussions where science, ethics and emotions blend all together. Isn't this the best outcome from reading a book?

[Jack Burrows · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew that this would be an interesting scientific read, but what I didn't anticipate - and what greatly heightened my enjoyment - was the aspects of ethics and debate. This book is not just a discussion and description of how different groups of scientists around the world are working to bring back different extinct species.

It is also a window into the world of genetics, conservationists and biologists. These represent competing ideological positions on the best way to protect, conserve and support the natural world. I had no idea there was such range! As a Geography teacher and an avid fan of David Attenborough, I understand the importance of "re-wilding" nature in order to increase biodiversity but I had not contemplated the ethics of doing this. The Oostvaardersplassen project in The Netherlands was particularly interesting and horrifying in equal measure.

Kornfeld acts a guide through this morally ambiguous world of genetic engineering and species revival. She weighs up the different arguments and actively interjects with her own thoughts, though she never tells you what to think. This book is very much a journey of self-discovering your own beliefs about this controversial issue.

[Jakob Hessius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mycket intressant och tankeväckande skriven bok! Den är alldeles lagom teknisk och vetenskaplig för att passa alla typer av läsare. Boken tar upp ett väldigt intressant tema om hur vi människor förhåller oss och förvaltar naturen vi har runt omkring oss. Rekommenderar denna allmänbildande läsning för alla som är intresserade av världen vi lever i idag.

[Charlotte Cederlund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Välskrivet och med flera intressanta vinklar som fick mig att söka vidare efter information på egen hand. Nästan så man önskar sig en uppföljare för att få veta hur det gått för alla de forskningsprojekt som boken tar upp!

[Sarri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mielenkiintoisia juttuja nykytieteen saavutuksista ja tiedeihmisistä, jotka sinnikkäästi yrittävät palauttaa keskuuteemme jo kadonneita eläimiä. Aika ajoin kirjoittajan jutusteleva tyyli alkoi häiritä, mutta summa summarum, mielenkiintoinen kirja uteliaalle.

[Luana · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 (-.5 only because of technical formatting flaws in regards to her footnotes. This author has the best footnotes I have ever come across. They are positively packed with extra, often engaging information and fantastic links to other online and print resources but she did not have any embedded reference points for them. I only knew they were there because I have a habit of going to the back first.)

De-extinction. With the advances that have been made in gene technology there are scientists around the world to whom this is now a future possibility. One that they are working on today and are already seeing things and results that would have been thought impossible a few years ago and while we are not quite at the point of recreating a T-Rex, from the blood of a fossilised mosquito yet, one project has successfully reverse engineered a reptilean/crocodilean snout on an embryonic chicken. An embryo that for obvious ethical reasons was not brought to term.

It is into this world, of scientific curiosity and enthusiasm tempered by caution of possible impacts, that Torill Kornfeldt, a science journalist, ventures to interview scientists who around the world are involved in various attempts to bring back lost species - for some of these scientists this has and will be their life's work, so passionate and committed as they are to what they see as the importance of their work in not only bringing back a lost species but also in creating a richer, wilder environment that would come with each reintroduction. For George Church this would come from reintroducing the Mammoth to Siberia and the way it would naturally terraform it's environs; for Stewart it is an ambitiously optimistic vision of bioabundance - with cod in the sea back to its old larger scale self; for Ben Novak, born in 1987, from the age of 14 it has been the reintroduction of the passenger pigeon and to see it in its vast swoops acting as a regenerating forest fire for sections of wild land (he does acknowledge that with the vast swoops come vast amounts of pigeon poop); and yes, there is a dinosaur dude among many more (but he does not intend that there should be herds of dinos in the wild rather perhaps "chicken sized dinosaur pets"p185).

This book however, is not just a exploration of the science and scientists behind these de-extinction projects - though it definitely is satisfyingly rich in these areas, full of intriguing material such as the fact that scientists have managed to reconstruct the molecule in the mammoth haemoglobin, needed to supply oxygen to body parts exposed to the extreme cold, necessary as the ordinary molecule of an elephant would not have been able to supply the oxygen needed.
No, in addition to exploring science, the book is also a philosophical enquiry into both what it means for the individual species under the resurrection scope and also what it means for efforts going into conserving today's ecosystems, the ethics, the politics and the people involved. It especially gets interesting when discussion centres on how gene tech can not just bring back extinct species but also increase the genetic diversity of current species in danger of inbreeding because of a scarcity of numbers or problems caused by a genetic bottleneck.

The other aspect that I really enjoyed in this book was how throughout it the authors voice was clear both in her love of science, even when she was feeling a bit cautious about some of the possible Frankensteinean elements, and her openness and appreciation of her interview subjects. Moreover, she had an observational humour that came through at moments either when recounting her journey or when recounting the history leading up to some excerpts. To give a brief example of this I'll insert the beginning of chapter 10, which is devoted to the auroch:
When the Red Army was marching on Berlin, Hermann Goring is said to have gone out to his country estate, Carinhall, and personally shot his cattle to prevent their falling into Russian hands. His sense of priorities may strike us as being more than usually unhinged for a man about to lose a war. Presumably, Goring was convinced that he was acting in the best interst of the Aryans - the Aryan breed of cattle, that is, rather than some human variety. The thing is, he believed his cattle were aurochs....

As mentioned, at the beginning of the review, I loved Torill's fulsome footnotes (even after the book is finished they will still keep me going for a while) and I thought I would just add a snippit of a sampling here below: Her whole list can be found here on her website http://kornfeldt.com/notes-and-furthe...

Chapter 1: Can I See Sarah Palin’s House from Here?

The history of Chersky and the whole of eastern Siberia is fascinating, as is the town’s development after the fall of the Soviet Union. Here is an Associated Press news article about the time after the collapse of the USSR: ‘Isolated Siberian Town Shrivels after Soviet Era’ (2011) http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/01/...

The research station’s homepage is: http://terrychapin.org/station.html

Neanderthals used mammoth bones to build houses. Research into the subject is summarised in a news article: ‘Neanderthal Home Made of Mammoth Bones Discovered in Ukraine’ (December 2011) Quaternary International, vol. 247, pp. 1–362, https://phys.org/news/2011-12-neander...

The scientific article in which Nikita and Sergey Zimov try to calculate how many animals lived on the mammoth steppe and compare the result with the population of Africa: ‘Mammoth Steppe: a high-productivity phenomenon’ (December 2012) Quaternary Science Reviews, vol. 57, pp. 26–45, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/...

Calculations of when the first humans came to Siberia are based on the carbon 14 dating method: ‘The Yana RHS Site: humans in the Arctic before the last glacial maximum’ (2004) Science, http://science.sciencemag.org/content...

New scientific articles about what happened to the mammoths appear regularly. An example is: ‘Abrupt Warming Events Drove Late Pleistocene Holarctic Megafaunal Turnover’ (July 2015) Science, http://science.sciencemag.org/content...

Beth Shapiro writes about the extinction of the mammoth in the following scientific article: ‘Pattern of Extinction of the Woolly Mammoth in Beringia’ (June 2012) Nature Communications, vol. 3, https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomm...

‘Remaining continental mammoths, now concentrated in the north, disappeared in the early Holocene with development of extensive peatlands, wet tundra, birch shrubland and coniferous forest. Long sympatry in Siberia suggests that humans may be best seen as a synergistic cofactor in that extirpation. The extinction of island populations occurred at ~4 ka. Mammoth extinction was not due to a single cause, but followed a long trajectory in concert with changes in climate, habitat and human presence.’

See also: ‘Life and Extinction of Megafauna in the Ice-Age Arctic’ (September 2015) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), vol. 112, http://www.pnas.org/content/112/46/14...

Questions about whether mammoths lived at the same time as the pyramids were being built proliferate on the internet, and I have seen many different answers. This is mine. The last mammoths died out about 4,000 years ago, and the pyramids at Giza were completed by around 2,560 BC (just over 4,500 years ago). By that time, there were no longer any mammoths living on the mainland, only on remote islands. See: ‘Radiocarbon Dating Evidence for Mammoths on Wrangel Island, Arctic Ocean’ (1995) Radiocarbon, vol. 37, pp. 1–6, https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/ind...

The trade in mammoth tusks is both open and covert. The estimate of 55 tonnes comes from a news article in National Geographic, which is well worth reading and beautifully illustrated: ‘Of Mammoths and Men’ (April 2013), http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/201...

‘Nearly 90 percent of all mammoth tusks hauled out of Siberia — estimated at more than 60 tons a year, though the actual figure may be higher — end up in China, where legions of the newly rich are entranced by ivory.’

[Rohit Garoo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple, easy-to-read, and with the right blend of curiosity and admiration towards the world of conservation biology and generic engineering. Torill writes with the mix of fascination and enthusiasm of a science journalist. The book is well-researched and you will find a treasure trove of interesting facts about rekindling of lost species. I strongly recommend picking this book, especially to those who love science and even those who remotely find the concept of resurrecting extinct species alluring.

[Dree · Rating 4 out of 5]

"A Second Chance for Extinct Animals"? What exactly does that mean? Kornfeldt examines the various "de-extinction" projects going on around the world, as well as past attempts at species re-creation (the aurochs). She looks at the ethics of the projects themselves, as well as potential ramifications of success. She does a great job of explaining the projects themselves as well as the people working on them (from trained scientists in top-of-the-line labs to breeders not unlike cat/dog breeders.) As a non-scientist, I found this book to be very well done, with the science explained at a level of detail perfect for me.

What is currently going on? There is cloning (only possible for the Northern White Rhino, which is functionally extinct but cells from many individuals are alive but frozen); controlled breeding of close species (the auroch); genentic modification (the American chestnut tree, also functionally extinct, as discussed in The Overstory; corals); DNA and cell manipulation of related species (wooly mammoth, passenger pigeon, dinosaurs). The science that enabled people in Jurassic Park to create dinosaurs absolutely does not exist right now. (Pet peeve: not until the endnotes does the author acknowledge that Jurassic Park was a book before it was a movie, the entire text refers to the movie.)

She also looks at the ethics with these various projects. Is it ethical to be trying to evolve chickens back into dinosaurs as...pets? Is it ethical to try to recreate the passenger pigeon, that would be released into a very different world (also--no chestnut trees)? Is it a good idea to try to create a coral that can survive higher temperatures, or would it be better to search for such a coral that might occur naturally? Is it worthwhile to try to revolve a new woolly mammoth to help save the permafrost (explained in detail in chapter 15)--or would it be better to simply introduce lots of musk ox and horses to accomplish the same goal faster? How could you clone a Northern White Rhinoceros given that there are no artificial wombs to actually grow the clone? Could a Southern White Rhino be used? They are not exactly lab or domestic animals, is it even feasible?

In addition to the ethics of these projects, Kornfeldt also looks at questions that would arise given success: is a wooly mammoth engineered from an Asian elephant actually a woolly mammoth, or is it a new species or a GMO elephant? Is a reverse-bred auroch an auroch or a new species of cattle? Would passenger pigeons based on band-tailed pigeons be passenger pigeons? Does it matter? Would that passenger pigeon behave like a passenger pigeon or a band-tailed pigeon, which have very very different behaviors? Would any of these creates know how to fill their ancestors' niches, or would they need to be taught, and who could do the teaching? Given the history of invasive species, would releasing any of these projects into the wild be smart or potentially catastrophic? How would the modern world deal with passenger pigeons that acted like passenger pigeons, or how would Europe deal with auroch in all the open land?

There is a lot to think about in this book, and I found it fascinating. The translation (from Swedish) is also very well done, it did not feel awkward at all.

[Erik B.K.K. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dit is helaas een ontzettend saai boek. Ik voel me er een beetje ingeluisd, ik dacht dat dit een boek zou zijn over bekende uitgestorven dieren, hoe ze zijn uitgestorven en hoe en waarom men ze weer 'tot leven wil wekken', bijvoorbeeld door klonen of genetische manipulatie. Dit boek gaat echter over de (saaie!) mensen achter het proces, over de (uitgekauwde) weerstand van mensen tegen klonen, en over de (droge) wetenschap achter klonen en genetische manipulatie. Het is helemaal niet interessant om te weten wat voor mensen zich bezig houden met klonen, en wat de schrijfster allemaal van ze vindt. Een 'running joke' in het boek is dat ze constant vermeldt dat ze allemaal 'rasechte optimisten' zijn, maar na drie keer vond ik het al behoorlijk irritant om te lezen, laat staan Bij. Elke. Persoon. Het enige interessante hoofdstuk was dat over Pleistocene Park en Siberië, maar hier lees je zo overheen. Kortom: misleidende cover en zonde van je tijd. Jammer.


Unfortunately this is a very boring book. I feel somewhat tricked, because I thought this was a book on famous extinct animals, about why they are extinct and how and why people are trying to bring them back through cloning and genetic manipulation. This book though is about the (boring!) people behind the screens, the (repetitive) opposition, and the (dry) science behind cloning and genetic manipulation. It isn't interesting at all to read what kind of people are working on cloning extinct animals, or what the writer thinks of them. A 'running joke' in the book is that she constantly points out they are all 'true optimists', but after the third time the joke becomes very old very quickly, let alone she says it with Each. Different. Person. The only interesting chapter was the one on Pleistocene Park and Siberia, but it was a short one. In short: misleading cover and not worthwhile. A shame.

[Christina Dudley · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fast and fascinating book about scientists working to resurrect extinct or nearly-extinct species! The author was far more torn about it than I was. Neither the science nor the materials nor the techniques are yet there to go Jurassic-Park on us, and I, for one, was persuaded of the good of reintroducing --if not a woolly mammoth -- at least a hairier Asian elephant to expand its range and to protect the permafrost. And the argument about re-introducing the American Chestnut tree, which used to account for 1/4 of America's forest cover before it succumbed to a fungal blight won me over to genetically-modified organisms that are modified to resist natural enemies. The hope that any place on earth can be protected from species alien to that region is given up for lost at this point, so why not allow native species to piggyback off of what other plants and animals have evolved?

Author Kornfeldt devoted some time to hand-wringing--are we playing God? Will we lose our connection to nature because we feel we can control it? Piffle. We've been playing God for a long time, and rather clumsily, and I'm not sure it's nature's uncontrollability that we love the most. If we were talking about resurrecting a Neanderthal, now that would be controversial. As it is, even if we manage to produce a version of an "old" species, as she points out, it'd be hard for that lonely beast to have much impact on the world, even if it survived. No herd, no species culture, no parents to raise it.

I think the scientist who wants to bring back the passenger pigeon has the hardest row to hoe, since they're used to flying around in the thousands. But we can start with saving bats from that little nose fungus and planting genetically-modified American Chestnut trees.

[Elentarri · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting, easy to read, if somewhat superficial, journey around the globe to explore what geneticists are up to in terms of reviving, cloning, storing or otherwise fiddling with the genetics of extinct and almost extinct animals and plants in order to aid in conservation efforts or to recreate the extinct animal. The author also covers the ethics of using genetic engineering in various ways. This book doesn't cover anything new (except the conservation of trees) that hasn't been covered by other books on the same topic. A nice, easy, informative read.

OTHER BOOKS

- Rise of the Necrofauna: A Provocative Look at the Science, Ethics, and Risks of De-Extinction by Britt Wray [General]
- Bring Back the King: The New Science of De-Extinction by Helen Pilcher [General]
- Resurrection Science: Conservation, De-Extinction and the Precarious Future of Wild Things by M.R. O'Connor [focus on conservation]
- The Fall of the Wild - Extinction, De-Extinction, and the Ethics of Conservation by Ben A. Minteer [focus on ethics and conservation]
- How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction by Beth Shapiro [focus on the science and ethics]

[Brian Stuy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since man could pick up a spear he has had a detrimental impact on the planet's biodiversity. Man's presence on earth has resulted in thousands of species being driven to extinction, from the Dodo, Passenger pigeon, the Mammoth, and many, many others. Throughout history man's touch has meant destruction, but now technology exists to reverse that trend.

At least, that is the hope among a few genetic engineers. The goal: reverse some of the loss in biodiversity by cloning or reconstituting extinct species. We are all familiar with the premise from "Jurassic Park."

Kornfeldt's book shows just how technically difficult such an enterprise is, and how ethically challenging it also is. Is an exact genetic replica required, or will a rough approximation do? And should we resurrect a lost species, when so many threatened species are still in trouble?

Re-Origin is a wonderfully stimulating adventure that will educate and inform the reader of the technological and moral issues facing "species de-extinction."

[Juha Saxberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nopeasti kehittyvä geeniteknologia on äärimmäisen mielenkiintoinen aihe. Toisessa ääripäässä ovat sellaiset arjen kysymykset kuin kantasolututkimus ja tehokkaampi maanviljely, toisessa ääripäässä design-vauvat ja Jurassic Park -tyyliset fantasiat.

Torill Kornfeldt kirjoittaa aiheesta mukaansatempaavasti. Hän käy tapaamassa tutkijoita eri puolilla maailmaa ja tutustuu sekä projekteihin että ihmisiin niiden takana. Yksi haluaa palauttaa satatuhatta mammuttia vaeltamaan Siperian tundralle, toinen löytää ratkaisun amerikankastanjat tuhonnutta sienitautia vastaan, kolmas luoda uudestaan kokonaisen ekosysteemin.

Kirja herättää kiperiä kysymyksiä. Onko geeniteknologian avulla luotu eläin sukupuuttoon kuolleen lajin edustaja – vai kokonaan uusi laji? Miten yksittäisen kasvi- tai eläinlajin manipulointi vaikuttaa ympäröivään luontoon? Ja ennen kaikkea: Onko ihmisellä oikeus puuttua evoluutioon?

Lue ihmeessä, ja mieti sinäkin.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since the release of Jurassic Park both scientists and the public have dreamed wildly about the possibility of somehow bringing back extinct fauna to roam the earth again. Kornfeldt, a science journalist in Sweden, summarizes in this book a number of current research projects which, by one method or another, all have this lofty goal. Whether the ultimate aim is a woolly mammoth or the only recently-extinct passenger pigeon, the methods vary -- from extraction of ancient DNA to breeding in (or out) particular characteristics of existing creatures and working backward. Like the author, I am concerned about ethical implications and somewhat dubious about the extent to which these feats can be realized, but also hugely excited about the possibilities.

I received this ARC via LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

[Choc Rebel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The re-origin of Species by Torill Kornfeld turned out to be a very impressive Jurassic Park meet Greenpeace kind of read about the idea of bringing back extinct animals, which have been as dead as a dodo for a while due to humans, back into the wild.
The author guides the reader through a thought-provoking exploration of why humans should or shouldn't consider bringing extinct animals back to life despite the potential risks akin to a modern-day Frankenstein and the possible consequences. Meanwhile, attempts to rewild nature with existing animals have often been unsuccessful.
As I finished the book, the news announced the birth of the first genetically modified dire wolves in the USA and the plans to replicate the same process for mammoths and dodos. I wonder how Americans will react to the return of wolves to their environment, as it has already caused quite a stir in Belgium and the Netherlands for naturally bred ones, especially among farmers.
What quacks and looks like a duck might resemble a tiny dinosaur in a few years.

[Nathalia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Plants, animals, habitats - we've hunted, destroyed, and eaten our way through the Sixth Extinction. This book talks to scientists on the cutting edge of cloning, genome mapping, and conservation. It's an examination of the human challenge of recreating something we've destroyed. In a scenario only Mary Shelley could have predicted, scientists explain their passion behind bringing extinct species back to life (crossing my fingers that I get to see a wooly mammoth in my lifetime). However the ethical questions raised by this cannot be ignored, nor can the ecological impact. A fascinating read.

[Tycho Van Hauwaert · Rating 4 out of 5]

[i ]De Terugkeer van de mammoet[/i] is een interessant boek indien je geboeid bent door de meest recente ontwikkelingen in het land der doden, klonen en celmodificatie. Dit is namelijk wat Torill Kornfeldt presenteert in haar laatste boek. Een bondig overzicht van de hedendaagse onderzoeken over het klonen van mammoeten (of de cellen aanpassen), het tot leven brengen van dinosauriërs of het redden van soorten door middel van opslaan van stamcellen. Is dit een utopie of leven er straks terug mammoeten in Siberië?

[Jigmet katpa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its well researched works about resurrecting the dead ones.
Different methods and extent to which these experiments will be done is explained ver simply. It has collected history about genetics n its programmes, i would like to suggest the reader to go through basic genetic jargons and its procedures .
The prosand cons of performing such experiments have been discussed and rediscussed with the other scientists around the world. Fantastic facts about the forgotten world are there that actually thrills the fun.

[Kristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was truly a remarkable book. The author presented a lot of information about current research it de-extinction in a clear and readable way. She conveyed enthusiasm while maintaining balanced coverage of the research projects. The pros and cons, believers and non-believers were all given a voice. My only complaint was that there wasn't more. Are there more projects like the ones discussed in the book? Are there resurrection projects for more animals?

[Manish · Rating 4 out of 5]

"'We have to be able to answer the question of why we want to do this. That isn't a scientific question. it's an ethical one. Are we going to recreate extinct animals? How extinct? Animals that have just died out, or those that became extinct a few decades ago, or thousands of years ago? That's an ethical question, that's how we should formulate it, and we need to answer it collectively as a society.'"

I read this book last year during the lockdown. It raises countless questions about the relationship of humans with nature, De-extinction projects that aim at bringing back to life lost species, and interviews of scientists and passionate researchers eager to play God on earth.. Life will find a way, but can it be resurrected? This book explores this spectacularly.