又中又英 | Dodos may return | 褚简宁

　　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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　　你们一些人或已读过我上年写及渡渡鸟（dodos）的专栏文章。牠们是flightless birds，意即牠们不会飞。渡渡鸟（dodos）是曾经住在毛里裘斯的巨大雀鸟，但在大约400年前已经 extinct——若某事物是extinct，意即它已灭绝。因此有一句习语是"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。你可以说，第一代的手提电话都是as dead as a dodo，因为现在有了智能电话，没有人会再用它了。

　　然而，渡渡鸟（dodos）绝了种（extinct）约400年以后，或许会复活！德州一间生物科技（biotechnology）公司正计划以基因工程设计一种渡渡鸟（dodo）。Biotechnology，简称 biotech，就是以生物体例如细胞，开发医学治疗。名为巨大生物科学（Colossal Biosciences）的公司已成功从一种鸠鸽中培养出特定的细胞。这间公司的科学家计划用同一种技术，去从绿蓑鸠中培育细胞，而牠是已绝种的（extinct）渡渡鸟（dodo）现存最近亲的物种。

　　科学家计划重新创造数以千计的渡渡鸟（dodos），安放牠们回原初的家：毛里裘斯。但他们说计划得用上6或7年，因为要用鸠鸽的细胞和精子去研发能诞生渡渡鸟（dodos）的鸟蛋，过程繁复。这个计划看来像chasing rainbows，就像追逐彩虹般，追求一些难以实现的事物。然而，巨大生物科学公司说，他们并非像《侏罗纪公园》电影系列般，追求不切实际的幻想（chasing rainbows）。该公司上年以基因工程，利用狗只作为代母，制造出3只恐狼。恐狼消失于世上已经有1万年了。

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻