Gastric-brooding Frogs

We only knew of the gastric-brooding frog for an incredibly small amount of time, they were discovered and classified in the mid 70’s and were extinct within a decade.  So we really never knew about these frogs and by time their incredible adaptation was discovered and going to be studied, they were gone.  Their adaptation is that they could produce a jelly-like protein called prostaglandin which would turn off the acidic genes in their stomach.  Then the mothers would swallow their eggs and nourish them within their bellies.  As discussed in the “Medical Benefits to De-Extinction” this is something scientists and medical professionals have been itching to study, they want to study these genes and that protein and assess if it could be useful in human patients with stomach problems.

There is an organization out of the University of Newcastle in Australia, called the Lazarus Project who are working on reviving indigenous Australian species; such as the dodo bird, the thylacine (commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger), and the gastric-brooding frog.

Frogs as a Historical Cloning Model

It is difficult to say where the majority of The Lazarus Project’s efforts are going, but they seem to have been most successful so far in the De-Extinction of the gastric-brooding frog.  This makes sense, because frogs historically have been known to be better cloning candidates than mammals.  In fact, the earliest successful clones were done with frogs and the scientists working on the project talked about the simplicity of the project.  In 1952, Thomas King and Robert Briggs had an idea to enucleate frog eggs and insert the nucleus from early developmental cells in their place.  They choose frog eggs because they were big and have tendencies to be resilient in comparison to other species.  At this time, much less was known about genetics and DNA was still a decade away from discovery.  But the ambitious scientists pushed on and it resulted in them producing embryos which turned into tadpoles and eventually morphed into adult frogs.  Amazed by their work 6 years later in 1958, John Gurdon wanted to continue their experiments and wondered if a clone could be produced from already differentiated somatic cells, or simply regular adult cells.  So instead of using blastula cells (early embryonic undifferentiated stem cells) as the implants, Gurdon took intestine cells and implanted to nucleus into the hallowed out eggs.  This experiment actually resulted in the first successful clones,  Briggs and Kings frogs are not considered clones because they were using stem cells, where as Gurdon was using the cells of an adult.

Frogs as a De-Extinction Model

The Lazarus Project has been working on bringing back the gastric-brooding frogs using the same methods described by King, Briggs, and Gurdon; only now they are using the nucleus of cells of a species that is extinct.  The group has had tissues stored in regular deep freezers since the 80’s and are not using these cells to bring back the mysteriously unique species.  In March 2013 they published a major step towards this.  The Lazarus Project has reported that through somatic-cell nuclear transplantation they have acquired an early embryonic state of cell development and they had a cell that was dividing.  The embryo unexpectedly stop diving and eventually died, but the scientists confirmed that the embryo was genetically a gastric-brooding frog.  The scientists are also very confident that this was a technical problem and not a biological problem, meaning they are confident the science will allow them to bring back this wonderful frog.

Medical Benefits to De-Extinction

While, De-Ex Dot Net is focused on the ecological benefits to de-extinction, there are scientists concerned with the health-care benefits to de-extinction.  This site hopes to inform readers that nature has done incredible jobs of engineering, which us humans could have never perceived.  None of our engineering accomplishments have been isolated and fabricated from nothing, we rely on studying nature’s engineering and we then can use that and manipulate it for our individual, societal, ecological, or technological advantage and benefits.

This is what is done with genetically-modified crops   We study species that can survive, we study their genome and how they survive; we can then encode those genes into crops for their survival.  We are not creating genes from nothing, these genes already exist in nature and we put them to use.  This is something we have been doing for 10,000 years, we want a crop to have certain desirable genes and not others, so we selectively breed them hoping the offsprings have those genes.  With technological advancements, we no longer have to hope that the offspring have those genes, we put those genes in there.

How can De-Extinct Genes Help Our Medical Issues?

Certain stomach surgeries are delicate and fragile because of the possibility of leaking acid into other areas of the body.  Current stomach acid medications, (like nearly every medication), have severe side-effects that effect other organs and systems in our bodies.

In 1973, David Liem first described and identified a new genus of frog, Rheobatrachus, or the gastric-brooding frog.  There were 2 known species of the frog, the northern and southern gastric-brooding frog; both went extinct by the mid-1980’s.  Frog species across the entire planet are severely on the decline, because of habitat destruction, invasive species, and disease.  It is very common for frogs to suffer due to invasive species of fungus introduces by human travelers.  This is the likely cause of extinction for the gastric-brooding frogs.

So, these frogs were only know for about 10 years, from the mid-70’s to the mid-80’s.  Why are they unique and particularly important the human health field?

These frogs did exactly what their name suggest, they gave birth, or brooded, in their stomachs, or gastric organs.

WHAT?!

To protect their eggs from predation, these frogs would swallow them and nurse their eggs within their stomachs, thus giving birth out of their mouths when the frogs were hatched.

                                                                                (Pictured. A gastic-brooding frog giving “birth” to a hatchling from her stomach.)

The frog does this by genes which produce a protein, a jelly-like protein, which turned off the acidity in the stomach, producing an environment which would not harm the eggs.

It is not being suggested that humans use this adaptation to raise our babies…however, scientists in the medical field have been itching to study these frogs since the time of their extinction to better treat ulcers, perform stomach surgeries and other issues.  Currently, certain stomach surgeries are delicate and fragile because of the possibility of leaking acid into other areas of the body.  Current stomach acid medications, (like nearly every medication), have severe side-effects that effect other organs and systems in our bodies.  But, now with our advancements in studying genomes and proteins, scientists would be better able to harness their ability for human needs then they were in the 70’s and 80’s.  At this point, it is not known if the frogs would be able to be revived into ecosystems, as the fungus which wiped out their species and many other frogs is still very much at large.  However, using de-extinction could very much help our medical engineers and human population.

For further reading on how the gastric-brooding frog can be resurrected, see the species de-extinction page on the gastric-brooding frog.

Aurochs

Remember those pictures of cave paintings you used to see in History or Art classes? Remember those big animals with the horns?  Here are some examples below to refresh your memory…

 

 

 

 

 

There are a whole lot of these paintings across caves.  But, what is this animal that cavemen and cavewomen so heavily illustrated?

They are the now extinct animal called the aurochs and they are the ancestor of all of the domestic cattle today.  Ok, so it is just a cow.  Negative.  This was a cow that was 6 feet from ground to shoulder, some estimates have this bovine weighing in at over 3,000 pounds, with the lowest estimate being 1,500 pounds.  Either way, these were big boys.  They had forward facing horns, which could reach up to 2.5 feet.  Yes, that is forward facing, they were adapted to cause some damage if elicited to.  They were a major resource to paleolithic humans.  Humans began to over hunt them and others were domesticated for livestock, for meat and dairy products.  Humans have always been very good at artificial selection and genetics, the aurochs was transformed until it became every species of cattle that we have today.  We bred them for specific demands and for profit, creating countless amounts of new species in the process.  All of this while completely altering the genes that made this animal an aurochs.

We created ’em through breeding, can we bring ’em back through breeding?

We have had this idea for quite sometime, can we backbreed the species to regain the genome it originally had? In fact one of the first groups to attempt this were the Nazi’s.  Two German zoo-keepers, brothers Heinz and Lutz Heck were delegated the task from Nazi scientists and officials to bring back the aurochs.  They were given no genome or genetic guideline for the animal, just some pictures and cave paintings and were given the task of mating cattle until they resembled their original ancestor.  To no surprise, they were unable to.  However, they claimed success-this led to them landing some other positions in the Third Reich.  Being that they were backbreeding animals to be “pure” again, you can imagine what their tasks became under the Nazi regime.

These Heck cattle, as they are now known, are no aurochs.  They are much to small, their horns are misshaped and their bodies are very un-proportional in comparison to the aurochs.  However, it was an attempt nonetheless to resurrect the species and has influenced modern scientists to do similar methods.  Only this time they are actually using genomic methods and tools to help them.

There are many projects aiming to backbreed the aurochs, including:

The Dutch Tauros Programme who is using aDNA to backbreed the species.

The Uruz Project is using strict breeding guidelines to limit the amount of species involved in the crossbreeding.  This is being done by following Mandelian inheritance principles and genomic editing when needed.

These are just 2 of many on-going efforts to bring back the aurochs, so obviously all of this work is for a good reason.  It is believed that the aurochs was highly adapted and best suited for the Eurasian landscape. While we have engineered cattle to fulfill our needs, the aurochs was engineered by nature to fulfill natural needs.

 

Oostvaardersplassen

Besides being a name no English-native person would attempt to pronounce, Oostvaardersplassen is a nature reserve in the Netherlands.  It is unlike most nature reserves, because well, there is nothing being preserved or reserved.  This is because naturally nothing belongs on this land, the land belongs below the sea-level.  With the geography of the area changing and some help from a human engineered dam this 15,000 acre park emerged from the depths of the sea.

Where is Oostvaardersplassen?

^ The map on the right highlights Netherlands location in Europe and the map on the left the regions of Netherlands.  The brown region named “Flevo” is where Oostvaardersplassen is located.

The Paleolithic Ecosystem

Since this land was underwater, it was uninhabited (by land critters at least).  But, this entire Northeast region of Europe was a habitat and was home to a great deal of biodiversity.  The southern European countries are very mountainous, but this little sliver including Netherlands is right on the edge of Europe’s northern plains.  This region provided the land for some now extinct species such as: aurochs, tarpan (wild horse), wisent (bison), and red deer (elk).

While there are many people responsible for the how Oostvaarderplassen has been reclaimed, including the people of the region and the government, an ecologist named Frans Vera is primarily responsible.  At the time of the parks origins in the 1970’s, it was widely believed that nature needs constant attention and laboring, Vera disagreed and said when nature has it’s proper ingredients it can run its course systematically.

So, he drove onto this marshy land with trucks filled of Heck cattle and started to populate the land.  The Heck cattle are not native to this region, in fact they are not native to any land, they were genetically engineered by Nazi scientists. (ok, that statement probably raises some questions, which are hopefully answered here.)  These Heck cattle act as the extinct aurochs.  Aurochs were believed to be very good browsers of very wetland, which is unusual in most of todays cattle and great considering this land is very marshy, being that it literally just came out of the sea.

Then Vera brought some Konik horses, 40 of them.  These horses would assume the roles of the wild tarpan that once roamed this region in paleolithic times. Red deer were bought in to take over their old niche.  Soon, wild animals seemed to have been finding out about the land and migrating on over-foxes, muskrats, herons, eagles, and other large birds of prey were swooping in on the benefits of the preserve.

Missing Components to the Park

Much like how all of the wolves were extirpated from Yellowstone, wolves have been extirpated from most of Europe for many generations.  This is also a major problem for Oostvaardersplassen, there are no predators. 15,000 acres is a whole lot of land, but not when there are no limiting factors keeping the numbers of herbivores in check. 15,000 acres of resources could go fast and animals face the risk of starvation.  Yes, it is a natural thing for populations to be in competition with each other and resources will always be limited. However, without predators the competition becomes severe and out of control.   So, park officials actually shoot the weak herbivores in the winter months, which estimates to be up to 60% of all the deaths in the park.  This raises ethical questions, but also is an inefficient way of advancing an ecologically sustainable park.  This is why Vera is an advocate of introducing wolves to the park, something he calls “the way of the future.”

Back from Extinction

Here at De-Extinction Dot Net we talk about species that have gone extinct and could be brought back.  Well, obviously it is best if the species never goes extinct in the first place.  The white-tailed eagle, native to Eurasia (the combined super-continent of Europe and Asia) was severely facing extinction.  Fear or losing the majestic bird of prey, a lot of legislation was past to preserve the species.  This was not the only thing that helped save the species, Oostvaardersplassen has become a sanctuary for the raptor. It was unintentional; Oostvaardersplassen lacks tall trees, which is where researches believed the eagles would only nest.  The birds started to come in and they found alternative nesting solutions, compromising a comfy well-known shelter for the ability to have a sustainable habitat.  Europeans for years have been doing their own breeding and rewilding programs for the bird, Oostvaardersplassen was able to do this and it was not even attempting to.  Thus, proving that nature’s engineering is sufficient without human intervention.  It should be noted that there was a ton of success in these rewilding programs and these types of conservation methods are very well needed and helpful.

De-Extinction Works.

All of these contributions and Oostvaardersplassen park has now brought the White-tailed Eagle from the “Critically Endangered” side all the way to “Least Concerned.”  It may not have been de-extinction in the classical sense that the species was lost and brought back; but essentially this species was just as good as gone and since has been brought all the way back.  This ecosystem is not even at 100% functionality yet and it is making great strides at preserving species.  If a species that have gone extinct can be reintroduced, even in low numbers, would they be able to survive similarly and make a comeback just like the White-tailed Eagle?

The question is if a species is introduced in the proper environment with the necessary components, why would the species not make a comeback…?

 

Wooly Mammoth

Pleistocene Epoch was host to large animals called megafauna-todays megafauna include elephants, giraffes, rhinos, and hippos.  During Pleistocene this list was much larger including wooly rhinos, giant sloths, saber-toothed tigers, and the more famous wooly mammoth.  The mammoth has come to be the mascot of de-extinction, the one that grabs the attention of everyone, the one everyone asks about.  This proboscidean was front and center on the April 2013 National Geographic about de-extinction.  Molecular ecologist, Beth Shapiro, named her book “How to Clone a Mammoth,” stating in the prologue that this is the most common question she is asked.  She choose this title for the book and it was about the entire science of de-extinction and the mammoth is actually a very difficult candidate for de-extinction, at least at this time.  It is a great thing that there is a mascot for the science, the idea of the pre-historic giants roaming the Earth again absolutely fascinates everyone, scientists and non-scientists.

This is a scientific based website, so….

What are the scientific benefits to bringing back the mammoth?

Just north of Siberia sits Pleistocene Park, the owner Sergey Zimov is concerned with bringing back the lost Pleistocene steppe.  He is already transforming a seemingly melting wasteland, permafrost, into a thriving ecosystem.  He has introduced a few extant mammals to his park and they are really showcasing how needed mammals are in ecosystems, the fauna (animals) and flora (plants) of the park are doing much better.  However, there are still some pieces missing from his park.  He lacks apex predators and large megafauna.  Zimov, so heavily believes that the megafauna are crucial to the land that his vehicle of choice is a old beaten down war tank-yes, a war tank! Mammoths were very good at clearing paths, shoveling snow, packing and loosing soil, and transporting seeds.  His tank is also very good at this.  However, he claims that his tank does not have the…umm…fecal qualities of the mammoth; mammoths were believed to have microbial bacteria in their intestines which could germinate and shape seeds very well.  Also, as we know dung makes a very good fertilizer and 13,000 pound mammoths definitely produce their share of it.  The steppe evolved with mammoths (and many other extinct or displaced species) and most definitely requires them to be fully functioning.

So, just how do you clone a mammoth? 

When you think of cloning, you think of like a Xerox machine.  Here is something and we will make a duplicate.  Well, we do not have a mammoth to put on our Xerox machine.  But, we do have mammoth aDNA and asian elephants.  Studying the aDNA of wooly mammoths, scientists are finding various genes specific to the adaptations of the species; such as: the wooly coat, the 2-inch layer of insulating fat, the enormous tusks, and a special hemoglobin, which is better suited to transport oxygen in extremely cold environments.  Using various techniques such as, CRISP-R, nuclear transfer, and iPS cells these genes could be encoded into the Asian Elephant genome, thus producing an elephant possessing mammoth adaptations.

If it walks like a mammoth, looks like a mammoth, acts like a mammoth…

…Is it a mammoth?

Well, this answer is debatable and up to negotiation.  The important part is the animal will act like a mammoth, which is crucial to the goal of preserving and reconstructing the Pleistocene steppe.  In addition, asian elephants, the closest extant species to the wooly mammoth is running out of real estate and they are frequent member of endangered species lists.  This is not to say, we should stop conserving the asian elephant and ship them all up north; but we could, in theory, give some asian elephants the adaptations they need to survive and thrive in Pleistocene Park.  It would be like giving the elephants a coat and some hot soup to go explore some new lands and be able to thrive as a species again, to regain that feeling of being an integrate link or component in a natural ecosystem.

 

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPS)

Every cell we have, or any cell any species has for that matter, is a differentiated cell-which means that every cell is specific due to its location.  Every cell has a particular function.  A skin cell is different then a liver cell.  Even tough they are different, they contain the same molecule and information-DNA.  Ok, so we have our entire DNA genome in every cell, we know that genes are what code for proteins.  However, the entire genome is not active in every cell; some genes that are not needed in specific cells are turned off.  You would imagine our skin cells would want the genes and thus proteins that make our skin, well skin-like.  Our skin cells would not have much use with the genes that our liver uses.  During our development, there is a stage where our entire genome is active in each one of our cells, these are called stem cells.  Which is a proper name, because they are the stem to which all of our cells are made of.  During a process called differentiation, these stem cells are introduced to certain hormones and factors which tell stem cells to turn off specific genes and become a specific cells.  So, this is when a hormone might tell a stem cell, “ok, you will now be a brain cell, go ahead and turn off all of the genes that are not brain related…”

or maybe…

the stem cell is told to become a gamete (sperm or egg cell).

So,

If we know that every cell started off as a stem cell and they were then introduced to some ingredients and then they became a specific (or differentiated) cell-then…

…Can we introduce some ingredients to a cell to reverse that process for it to become a stem cell again?

Yes we can, as proven by Shinya Yamanaka in Kyoto, Japan…and these are called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells)

Induced, meaning something caused something to happen (hormones and factors induced the cell to become a iPS)

Pluripotent, meaning many (pluri-) powers (potent) – so the cell contains many powers, not just the specific powers of a differentiated cell

But….

Why are iPS cells important?

Yamanaka received a nobel peace price for his findings, so this must be important.  And it is. Very Important.  This gives scientists the ability to reprogram cells to be whatever cell it needs to be.  People will not need to rely on transplants, they would be able to regenerate their own cells, with their own DNA.  Theoretically, they would be able to donate their own skin cells to their liver.  This is a fairly new field, as Yamanaka published his work in 2006, so the exact capabilities of iPS cells is slightly unknown, but our imagination is running wild.  I assure you scientists are buzzing away as you read this trying to figure out the entire boundaries of this new-found science.  Much like how a dog might test out where he can go with his new electric collar or how a child will test a new teacher to see what they can get away with.

Why is this useful to De-Extinction?

Well, if an animal is extinct, it is safe to assume we cannot get that animal to lend us any living gametes.  But, we could get tissue cells from the species and perhaps turn those tissues into iPS cells and then program those iPS cells to be usable gametes.  Consider, we have frozen zoos containing a vast amount of cells and tissues, we are able to fill-in holes in aDNA to obtain viable DNA of extinct species, and now we are able to  convert this DNA into sperm and eggs…

as hey might say in Seinfeld, “yada-yada-yada”

an animal is born.

 

 

Frozen Zoo

Everyone at some point has probably debated their feelings on zoos.  “Are they too confined?” or  “Are some of the species too far out of their natural elements?”

Well, there is a zoo that De-Extinction Dot Net is in full support of-a zoo whose subjects are incredibly confined and the conditions are bitterly cold…this is the frozen zoo.

These zoos are so small because they are only storing the genetic material of their subjects.  They are storing cells, tissue, DNA, and sperm and eggs of many species, this explains why they are so small.  These vials are stored in temperatures about -200 °C  in liquid Nitrogen.  These are ideal conditions to store DNA to make sure it does not degrade.  This is why scientists are finding DNA preserved far more often up in the Northern hemisphere then in say Australia or South America.  As good as science has become in using aDNA, it is still much better to use DNA that is fully preserved.  However, the frozen zoos are limited to which species were extant, or living, when the zoos were founded.  The San Diego Zoo, which was founded in 1972, is thus limited to which species were around since then until today.

This is terrific!  We have genetic banks! Structures containing bio-diversity! It is possible to revive traits and species, restore missing components to ecosystems.

There are about a dozen frozen zoos globally.  The newest and perhaps most advanced is at the University of Georgia, where they are specifically committed to the preservation of North American wild cats .  One of the more famous zoos, at least here in the states is the San Diego Frozen Zoo, which has close to 10,000 samples from 1,000 species and subspecies.

Science is at the dawn of a new era of application, as seen in the inaccuracy of reviving the bucardo, the molecular techniques we are using are too inconsistent at the moment to yield healthy de-extinctions or restorations.  However, storing the genetic material of living species is incredibly useful, considering nothing is out of the realm of scientific accomplishments these days.  George Church, seems to jump on every opportunity to proclaim that molecular engineering is growing at 6 times the rate of Moore’s Law.  This is the law which unofficially states that computers double their greatness ability every two years.  So, it is quite possible that very soon we will be able to efficiently revive species right out of these cryopreservations (scientific term for frozen preserves of genetic matter).

 

Freshkills Park – Staten Island, NYC

A 2,200 acre landfill sits on New York City’s  forgotten boro of Staten Island.  This now defunct landfill is about has wrecked of a land as you could imagine, nobody would live on it or develop on it.  It is where all of the trash in NYC accumulated for 60 years.  Staten Islanders have books of jokes about the health risks of the dumb, the cancerous gases pouring out of the land, the mutant fish living in the creeks driven into the landfill.  It precisely has the perfect reputation, because what if an ecosystem can transform that land?  People could fully understand the power of ecosystems.

These are the plans for the landfill, a 30 year plan, which will open a massive urban park in parts and provide habitats for a large amount of Northeastern biodiversity.  This would reinvent imaginations.

Freshkills, like all landfills is drowning in methane gases, a terrible greenhouse gas, which is also buried under the Permafrost and Pleistocene Park.  Engineers for the City’s parks and sanitations departments were able to engineer methane collectors, which will then be converted from the greenhouse gas into usable energy which could heat 30,000 homes.  Now that is a smart use of a bad situation.  The park also looks to boast a solar farm, which will power 2,000 homes and wind turbines.  The engineering of these methane collectors is merely just how we apply what we have learned from nature’s engineering intelligence.

But what about the other organic and inorganic materials?

There simply is just way too much going on on this land for engineers to figure out how to harness all of it productively.  But we do not need human engineers to figure all of it out, nature has already figured it out a long long time ago.  Certain species have been genetically engineered to recycle physical and gaseous waste on this planet.  We just need to allow them to do their job and monitor their efforts.  It is quite possible that new species’ have to be reintroduced to the region to best facilitate a healthy park, which can handle the toxins.  Nature wrote, edited, and published the book on engineering like 4 billion years ago.  Tell me again how does Earth does not possess intelligence… everything has a unique intelligence and which is such a vital part to everything… this is how everything works in the natural world and the social world!

I think that is pretty rad!

The park is way to small to really mean anything on a global scale…

The above statement is completely false.  The park will serve primarily as an educational facility, where people can learn how and why they should live an eco-responsible life.  The park will also educate people on the powers of ecosystems, which will allow for a better understanding of the bigger eco projects on Earth.  Such projects as: The permafrost, which is nothing more then a massive landfill we created 11,000 years ago, that stretches across the entire Northern hemisphere of our planet.  If we can prove to NYC’ers that ecosystems can transform and reclaim land, this could educate literally every type of perspective!  Discovering  scientific theories is one specific thing, the ability to use those theories requires the full effort of all the other people in our social system.

Hooray science, education and our terrific educationally supported social system!!!!

New York City’s Guide

People from certain parts of the world can more easily understand how ecosystems work. People from certain regions can more easily understand how important ecosystems are as a power source of Earth and how they are a system designed to recycle organic and inorganic material to protect Earth.  People from New York City have a harder time seeing this.  To no fault of their own: why would we understand ecosystems?  We do not have any great sampling of an ecosystem and in the small samples lacks a whole lot of bio-diversity—we have some dire looking trees, crew cut grasses, stray cats, squirrels, mice, mutant-looking pigeons and rats.

It is for this reason that I have been itching to get out of my home city and go see the great ecosystems around the country and world, feel their power, see the diversity.

In college, I was able to really wet my pallet.  I was on St. John’s in the US Virgin Islands, this is an island very largely uninhabited and most of it is a natural park.  We stayed on a resource camp in woods.  We were in waters with animals that did not know they should be scared of humans.  We saw Sea Turtles, squid, beautiful coral reefs, my first wild Octopus!!!

I studied in the Bay Area, besides studying the techniques used for captive animals in cognitive research, we went whale watching, saw the Sea Lions naturally call Fisherman’s Bay in San Fran home.  We saw Sea Otters eating starfish, muscles, and clams floating in Point Lobos.  We hiked up a mountain to a serene bay, where we saw the 5,000 lbs Elephant Seals training like it was a martial arts class, wailing their great big necks and bodies at each other to toughen up.

Going to these places had me wishing New York City could have ecosystems like this.  Imagine if the children growing up in NYC could go to see how biodiversity works?  Not zoo’s, but see how all the interactions come together to create a wholesome powerful wonder.  Where children could go and feel how powerful Earth’s systems are.

Imagine a place where adults could even do all of this!!!

Imagine the people responsible for the world’s money flow and commerce could have a place where they can be connected to Earth?  We could see more money headed towards the ecology and alternative energy sources. (thus, far less money being invested in Earth’s destruction) There would be more pressure on government legislature to promote a greener future.  This would create a trend not just on NYC governments, but other cities in the US and other countries would be influenced to as well.  A strong ecosystem could be what influences NYC to be a cultural power and influence to facilitate an era of anthrofisymbiosis.

How would this be possible in NYC, tough?  It is known as the concrete jungle, after all..  I welcome you to a massive landfill of garbage, which has been said can be seen from space…The Freshkills Landfill

Andrew Salzillo

So far the only writer on De-Extinction Dot Net is the web-creater, Andrew Salzillo.  Which means everything is written by…me.  I studied Biology at St. Francis College, graduating in May 2015.  The college provided me with many of the most engaging and unique opportunities to study: I studied marine ecosystems in the US Virgin Island at a research center called VIERS, I also studied how research is being conducted on marine mammals in California’s Bay Area.  My own personal research had me studying around the NYC-Metropolitan region recording the social and emotional variations in captive (zoo/aquaria) animals.  My thesis was and is the most ever expanding thing ever.  It initially was to be an analysis of the science of De-Extinction and interdisciplinary views on the science.  However, it evolved into more and more research and theories which brings me to where I am today and where I am going…

While working on my thesis, I realized that there is no database or website where one could go to get information on de-extinction in once place.  I was researching the field and I was having a hard time being educated on the field, hopefully this site could act as a source of information.

I have been the most fortunate swim coach for the past 6 years.  Going with the idea of how everything is relative to perspective,  I believe the lessons I learn and teach to swimmers are relative to the lessons we should be learning in science.  Einstein was able to prove that even time and space is relative, so I assure you everything is relative.