又中又英 | Dodos may return | 褚簡寧

　　Some of you may have read a column I wrote last year about dodos. They are flightless birds, which means they can't fly. Dodos are very large birds which lived in Mauritius but became extinct about 400 years ago. If something is extinct, it means it no longer exists. That's why there is the expression "as dead as a dodo". If something is as dead as a dodo, it means it's completely dead or no longer exists. You can say the first generation of mobile phones is as dead as a dodo because no one uses them anymore now that there are smartphones.

　　But dodos may return after being extinct for about 400 years! A biotechnology firm in Texas is planning to genetically engineer a version of the dodo. Biotechnology, biotech in short, uses living things such as cells to produce medical treatments. The firm, Colossal Biosciences, has succeeded in culturing specialized cells from a type of pigeon. The company's scientists plan to use the same technique to culture cells from the Nicobar pigeon, which is the closest living relative of the extinct dodo.

　　The scientists plan to recreate thousands of dodos and put them in Mauritius, their original home. But they said it would take six or seven years because of the complicated process of developing eggs to produce dodos using cells and sperms from pigeons. The project seems like chasing rainbows, which means trying to do something unrealistic. But Colossal Biosciences says it is not chasing rainbows, unlike Jurassic World movies. The company last year genetically engineered three dire wolves, using dogs as surrogate mothers. Dire wolves have not been seen for 10,000 years.

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　　你們一些人或已讀過我上年寫及渡渡鳥（dodos）的專欄文章。牠們是flightless birds，意即牠們不會飛。渡渡鳥（dodos）是曾經住在毛里裘斯的巨大雀鳥，但在大約400年前已經 extinct——若某事物是extinct，意即它已滅絕。因此有一句習語是"as dead as a dodo"。若某事物是"as dead as a dodo"，意即它已死清光，又或不再存在。你可以說，第一代的手提電話都是as dead as a dodo，因為現在有了智能電話，沒有人會再用它了。

　　然而，渡渡鳥（dodos）絕了種（extinct）約400年以後，或許會復活！德州一間生物科技（biotechnology）公司正計劃以基因工程設計一種渡渡鳥（dodo）。Biotechnology，簡稱 biotech，就是以生物體例如細胞，開發醫學治療。名為巨大生物科學（Colossal Biosciences）的公司已成功從一種鳩鴿中培養出特定的細胞。這間公司的科學家計劃用同一種技術，去從綠簑鳩中培育細胞，而牠是已絕種的（extinct）渡渡鳥（dodo）現存最近親的物種。

　　科學家計劃重新創造數以千計的渡渡鳥（dodos），安放牠們回原初的家：毛里裘斯。但他們說計劃得用上6或7年，因為要用鳩鴿的細胞和精子去研發能誕生渡渡鳥（dodos）的鳥蛋，過程繁複。這個計劃看來像chasing rainbows，就像追逐彩虹般，追求一些難以實現的事物。然而，巨大生物科學公司說，他們並非像《侏羅紀公園》電影系列般，追求不切實際的幻想（chasing rainbows）。該公司上年以基因工程，利用狗隻作為代母，製造出3隻恐狼。恐狼消失於世上已經有1萬年了。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻