THE debate about how far we should manipulate life to pursue our desire for knowledge has raged for centuries.
Mary Shelley captured Victorian anxiety about the subject with her Gothic tale of Frankenstein and Michael Crichton鈥檚 1990 bestseller showed this concern continues, arising from such techniques as genetic modification, animal cloning and now .
Unease about the latter idea will grow as evidence mounts to show that rewinding evolution may not be that difficult (see 鈥淐hicken revisits its dinosaur past鈥�). The secret is not to find viable dinosaur DNA, which is highly unlikely, but in making major shifts in anatomy with relatively minor genetic changes.
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But though these experiments are in effect creating a 鈥渕onster鈥�, they can bring important advances too. They can help pinpoint the sources of birth defects. The work also shows we can alter development by changing the way genes are programmed, sidestepping the need for gene therapy.
As a bonus, this research undermines creationist arguments about the impossibility of large-scale evolutionary changes. Who could possibly argue with that?