Many exciting stories have come from scientific ponderings. Take, for instance, Frankenstein. It was written by Mary Shelley while the scientific world debated the idea of reanimation. Could something dead, a frog, perhaps, be reanimated by electricity? And if a frog could be brought back to life, what about a human? And if a human could be brought back to life, does that mean we should?
So Dr. Frankenstein sews together pieces of cadavers and, after many failed attempts, actually brings to life this cobbled-together thing, this human, if you can call it that.
Eighty years later, H. G. Wells is exploring a similar topic in The Island of Dr. Moreau. Can humans and animals be joined together?
Science Goes Awry?
Fast-forward 200 years from Shelley’s Frankenstein. What happens if scientists use DNA to bring back dinosaurs? And what happens if those dinosaurs are cobbled together from parts of other animals?
It’s not exactly eye of newt and horn of unicorn, but what if those scientists genetically modify the dinosaur DNA and add DNA from a frog and a snake and then the dinosaur learns how to camouflage itself and lower its blood temperature so as to be unreadable to the humans trying to contain it? Hmmm? What then?
That might give you a Jurassic World.
On a younger, more light-hearted level, consider Fird, a two-feature creature. You haven’t heard of a fird? Well, he’s part fish, part bird. He goes on a quest to find other firds, and along the way finds different kinds of two-feature creatures. His story is chronicled in Whoever Heard of a Fird? by Othello Bach.
Now it’s your turn: Create a new type of animal by piecing together parts of other animals. Or add the DNA from other animals to an existing one.
Now write a short story using this new animal. Will it solve a problem? Will something go wrong? Your story can be for children or for people your age.
Or write your opinion of whether scientists should create new creatures from existing DNA or whether they should try to resurrect extinct animals by cobbling DNA together.
Image credit: Jurassic World trailer
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