The Day They Walked
In 1972, a groundbreaking discovery by Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen in genetic engineering, where they created the first transgenic organisms by inserting a resistance gene into an E. coli plasmid, sparked both immense scientific excitement and public backlash. While many hailed it as a monumental step forward, others protested, fearing humanity was "playing God."
Amidst this controversy, Jeremy Karlson, a renowned paleontologist, recognized the profound potential of Boyer and Cohen's work. He saw it as a means to achieve something unprecedented: bringing dinosaurs back to life.
Jeremy, accompanied by his wealthy step-brother Jake, who offered to fully fund the ambitious project, met with Boyer and Cohen. Jeremy revealed that during an expedition in Alaska, his team had discovered a perfectly preserved, 17,000-year-old juvenile dire wolf with intact organs, from which they successfully extracted degraded DNA. He believed that with Boyer and Cohen's expertise in transgenic technology, they could use this DNA, and by extension, potentially dinosaur DNA, to resurrect extinct creatures.
Initially hesitant and skeptical of the audacious proposition, Boyer and Cohen were eventually swayed by Jeremy's unwavering confidence and the sheer magnitude of the idea. With Jake's financial backing and Jeremy's bold vision, they agreed to collaborate. The project, estimated to take four to five years, aimed to apply the nascent field of genetic engineering to the realm of paleontology, promising to reshape the world in an unimaginable way. As they left, Jeremy mused that when their success became public, the world would be irrevocably divided.
