Building a dinosaur from a chicken | Jack Horner

Translator: Niels Justus Reviewer: Anders Finn Jørgensen

When I was growing up in Montana,

Da jeg var barn i Montana

I had two dreams.

havde jeg to drømme.

I wanted to be a paleontologist,

Jeg ville gerne være palæontolog -

a dinosaur paleontologist,

en dinosaur-palæontolog -

and I wanted to have a pet dinosaur.

og jeg ville have en dinosaur som kæledyr.

And so that's what I've been striving for

Så det stræbte jeg efter

all of my life.

hele mit liv.

I was very fortunate

Jeg havde meget helt

early in my career.

i starten af min karriere.

I was fortunate

Jeg var heldig

in finding things.

med at finde ting.

I wasn't very good at reading things.

Jeg var ikke god til at læse.

In fact, I don't read much of anything.

Faktisk læste jeg ikke meget.

I am extremely dyslexic,

Jeg er stærkt ordblind,

and so reading is the hardest thing I do.

så læsning er det vanskeligste jeg gør.

But instead, I go out and I find things.

I stedet for, går jeg ud og finder ting.

Then I just pick things up.

Så samler jeg bare tingene op

I basically practice for finding money on the street.

I grunden øver jeg mig i at finde penge på gaden.

(Laughter)

(latter)

And I wander about the hills,

Jeg vandrer rundt omkring bakkerne

and I have found a few things.

og jeg har fundet en del ting.

And I have been fortunate enough

Jeg har været heldig nok

to find things like the first eggs in the Western hemisphere

til at finde ting, såsom de første æg på den vestlige halvkugle

and the first baby dinosaurs in nests,

og de første baby-dinosaurer i reder,

the first dinosaur embryos

de første dinosaur embryoer

and massive accumulations of bones.

og stakkevis af ben.

And it happened to be at a time

Det skete tilfældigvis da

when people were just starting to begin to realize

man begyndte at forstå

that dinosaurs weren't the big, stupid, green reptiles

at dinosaurer ikke var de store, dumme, grønne reptiler,

that people had thought for so many years.

som man havde troet i mange år.

People were starting to get an idea

Man begynde at forstå,

that dinosaurs were special.

at dinosaurer var noget særligt.

And so, at that time,

Så dengang var jeg i stand til

I was able to make some interesting hypotheses

at danne nogle interessante hypoteser

along with my colleagues.

sammen med mine kolleger.

We were able to actually say

Vi var i stand til konkret at sige

that dinosaurs -- based on the evidence we had --

at dinosaurerne - baseret på de beviser vi havde -

that dinosaurs built nests

at dinosaurerne byggede reder,

and lived in colonies

levede i kolonier,

and cared for their young,

passede på deres afkom,

brought food to their babies

bragte føde til deres babier,

and traveled in gigantic herds.

og vandrede i kæmpe-flokke.

So it was pretty interesting stuff.

Det var yderst interessant.

I have gone on to find more things

Jeg fandt herefter flere ting,

and discover that dinosaurs really were very social.

og opdagede at dinosaurerne i virkeligheden var meget sociale.

We have found a lot of evidence

Vi fandt masser af beviser på

that dinosaurs changed

at dinosaurerne ændrede sig

from when they were juveniles to when they were adults.

fra at være unge over til at være voksne.

The appearance of them would have been different --

Deres udseende blev anderledes,

which it is in all social animals.

som det bliver for alle sociale dyr.

In social groups of animals,

I sociale dyregrupper

the juveniles always look different than the adults.

ser unge altid anderledes ud en de voksne.

The adults can recognize the juveniles;

De voksne kan identificere de unge,

the juveniles can recognize the adults.

de unge kan identificere de voksne.

And so we're making a better picture

Så vi laver et smukkere billede

of what a dinosaur looks like.

af hvordan en dinosaur ser ud.

And they didn't just all chase Jeeps around.

De jagter ikke alle Jeeps.

(Laughter)

(latter)

But it is that social thing

Men det der sociale

that I guess attracted Michael Crichton.

tror jeg, tiltrak Michael Crichton

And in his book, he talked about the social animals.

I sin bog talte han om de sociale dyr.

And then Steven Spielberg, of course,

Og Steven Spielberg, ikke at forglemme,

depicts these dinosaurs

fremstiller disse dinosaurer

as being very social creatures.

som meget sociale væsener.

The theme of this story is building a dinosaur,

Temaet i denne film drejer sig om at frembringe en dinosaur,

and so we come to that part of "Jurassic Park."

og så er vi fremme ved "Jurassic Park"-delen.

Michael Crichton really was one of the first people

Michel Crichton var faktisk blandt de første,

to talk about bringing dinosaurs back to life.

som talte om at bringe dinosaurerne tilbage til livet.

You all know the story, right.

I kender alle historien, ikke?

I mean, I assume everyone here has seen "Jurassic Park."

Jeg antager alle her har set "Jurassic Park".

If you want to make a dinosaur,

Hvis man vil skabe en dinosaur

you go out, you find yourself a piece of petrified tree sap --

så må man finde noget forstenet træsaft,

otherwise known as amber --

også kendt som rav,

that has some blood-sucking insects in it,

som indeholder nogle blodsugende insekter

good ones,

nogle gode,

and you get your insect and you drill into it

og man borer et hul

and you suck out some DNA,

og suger noget DNA ud.

because obviously all insects that sucked blood in those days

Selvfølgelig sugede alle insekter blod dengang

sucked dinosaur DNA out.

sugede dinosaur DNA.

And you take your DNA back to the laboratory

Så tager man DNA'et til laboratoriet

and you clone it.

og kloner det.

And I guess you inject it into maybe an ostrich egg,

Jeg tror man injicerer det i et strudse-æg

or something like that,

eller sådan noget.

and then you wait,

Så venter man,

and, lo and behold, out pops a little baby dinosaur.

og - minsandten - ud kommer en lille baby-dinosaur.

And everybody's happy about that.

Og alle er glade.

(Laughter)

(latter)

And they're happy over and over again.

Og de er glade gang på gang.

They keep doing it; they just keep making these things.

De bliver ved med at lave det.

And then, then, then, and then ...

Så, så, så ....

Then the dinosaurs, being social,

da dinosaurerne er sociale,

act out their socialness,

udlever deres sociale natur,

and they get together,

kommer de sammen

and they conspire.

og de rotter sig sammen.

And, of course, that's what makes Steven Spielberg's movie --

Selvfølgelig er det dette som udgør Steven Spielbergs film

conspiring dinosaurs chasing people around.

konspirerende dinosaurer, som jager folk rundt.

So I assume everybody knows

Jeg antager at alle ved

that if you actually had a piece of amber and it had an insect in it,

at hvis man faktisk havde et stykke rav med et insekt

and you drilled into it,

og man borede ind i det,

and you got something out of that insect,

og man fik noget ud af dette insekt, og klonede det.

and you cloned it, and you did it over and over and over again,

Og man gjorde det igen og igen,

you'd have a room full of mosquitos.

så ville man få rummet fuldt af moskitoer.

(Laughter)

(latter)

(Applause)

(applaus)

And probably a whole bunch of trees as well.

Og måske en mindre skov også.

Now if you want dinosaur DNA,

Hvis man ønsker sig dinosaur-DNA

I say go to the dinosaur.

synes jeg, man skal gå til dinosauren.

So that's what we've done.

Det er det, vi har gjort.

Back in 1993 when the movie came out,

I 1993, da filmen kom ud,

we actually had a grant from the National Science Foundation

fik vi en pose penge fra "National Science Foundation"

to attempt to extract DNA from a dinosaur,

for at uddrage DNA fra en dinosaur.

and we chose the dinosaur on the left,

Vi valgte dinosauren til venstre,

a Tyrannosaurus rex, which was a very nice specimen.

en Tyrannosaurus rex, som var rigtig god.

And one of my former doctoral students,

Én af mine tidligere PhD-studerende

Dr. Mary Schweitzer,

Dr. Mary Schweitzer,

actually had the background

havde erfaring

to do this sort of thing.

med at gøre sådan noget.

And so she looked into the bone of this T. rex,

Så hun kiggede på knoglerne fra denne T.rex

one of the thigh bones,

én af hofte-knoglerne

and she actually found

og hun fandt faktisk

some very interesting structures in there.

nogle meget interessante strukturer i den.

They found these red circular-looking objects,

De fandt disse røde cirkulært udseende objekter,

and they looked, for all the world,

som umiskendeligt lignede

like red blood cells.

røde blodceller.

And they're in

Og de er i

what appear to be the blood channels

hvad der ligner de blodkanaler

that go through the bone.

som løber igennem knoglen.

And so she thought, well, what the heck.

Så vi tænkte, hvad pokker.

So she sampled some material out of it.

Så hun udtog en prøve fra den.

Now it wasn't DNA; she didn't find DNA.

Det var ikke DNA - hun fandt ikke DNA.

But she did find heme,

Men hun fandt heme,

which is the biological foundation

som er det biologiske grundlag for

of hemoglobin.

hæmoglobin.

And that was really cool.

Det var ikke så ringe endda.

That was interesting.

Det var interessant.

That was -- here we have 65-million-year-old heme.

Det var vi 65-million år gammel heme.

Well we tried and tried

Vi prøvede og prøvede

and we couldn't really get anything else out of it.

men vi kunne ikke rigtig få noget som helst ud af det.

So a few years went by,

Så nogle år gik,

and then we started the Hell Creek Project.

og vi startede "Hell Creek Project"

And the Hell Creek Project was this massive undertaking

"Hell Creek Project" var et massivt forsøg på

to get as many dinosaurs as we could possibly find,

at få så mange dinosaurer som overhovedet muligt

and hopefully find some dinosaurs

og forhåbentligt finde nogle dinosaur

that had more material in them.

som havde mere materiale i sig.

And out in eastern Montana

Og ude i det østlige Montana

there's a lot of space, a lot of badlands,

er masser af plads og øde områder

and not very many people,

men ikke mange mennesker.

and so you can go out there and find a lot of stuff.

Så du kan gå derude og finde en masse sager.

And we did find a lot of stuff.

Vi fandt en masse sager.

We found a lot of Tyrannosaurs,

Vi fandt en masse Tyrannosaurus,

but we found one special Tyrannosaur,

men vi fandt én særlig Tyrannosaurus,

and we called it B-rex.

som vi kaldte B-rex

And B-rex was found

og B-rex blev fundet

under a thousand cubic yards of rock.

under tusind kubik-meter sten.

It wasn't a very complete T. rex,

Det var ikke en komplet T-rex,

and it wasn't a very big T. rex,

og det var ikke en stor T-rex,

but it was a very special B-rex.

men det var en ganske særlig B-rex.

And I and my colleagues cut into it,

Jeg og mine kolleger skar i den

and we were able to determine,

og var i stand til at fastslå,

by looking at lines of arrested growth, some lines in it,

ved at se på stregerne ved vækstens ophør,

that B-rex had died at the age of 16.

at B-rex døde i en alder af 16.

We don't really know how long dinosaurs lived,

Vi ved ikke rigtig hvor længe dinosaurerne levede,

because we haven't found the oldest one yet.

for vi har ikke fundet den ældste endnu.

But this one died at the age of 16.

Men denne døde i en alder af 16.

We gave samples to Mary Schweitzer,

Vi gav prøver til Mary Schweitzer,

and she was actually able to determine

og hun kunne fastslå

that B-rex was a female

at B-rex var hunkøn

based on medullary tissue

baseret på væv fra den øvre rygmarv,

found on the inside of the bone.

som blev fundet i knoglen

Medullary tissue is the calcium build-up,

Væv fra den øvre rygmarv består af den kalcium-dannelse,

the calcium storage basically,

i grunden et kalcium lager,

when an animal is pregnant,

der sker, når et dyr er gravid

when a bird is pregnant.

Når en fugl er gravid.

So here was the character

Så her var den egenskab

that linked birds and dinosaurs.

som forbandt fugle og dinosaure.

But Mary went further.

Men Mary gik videre.

She took the bone, and she dumped it into acid.

Hun tog knoglen og lagde den i syre.

Now we all know that bones are fossilized,

Vi ved alle, at knogler er forstenede,

and so if you dump it into acid,

så hvis du lægger den i syre,

there shouldn't be anything left.

så burde der ikke være noget tilbage.

But there was something left.

Men det var der.

There were blood vessels left.

Der var blodkar.

There were flexible, clear blood vessels.

Der var bøjelige, klare blodkar.

And so here was the first soft tissue from a dinosaur.

Så her var det første væv fra en dinosaur.

It was extraordinary.

Det var helt udsædvanligt.

But she also found osteocytes,

Men hun fandt også osteocytter,

which are the cells that laid down the bones.

som er de celler som danner knoglerne.

And try and try, we could not find DNA,

Og vi prøvede og prøvede, men fandt ingen DNA,

but she did find evidence of proteins.

men hun fandt spor af proteiner.

But we thought maybe --

Men vi tænkte at måske --

well, we thought maybe

at måske --

that the material was breaking down after it was coming out of the ground.

at materialet blev nedbrudt efter at det kom ud af jorden

We thought maybe it was deteriorating very fast.

Vi tænkte, at måske blev det nedbrudt meget hurtigt.

And so we built a laboratory

Så vi byggede t laboratorium

in the back of an 18-wheeler trailer,

bagerst i en 18-hjulet trailer,

and actually took the laboratory to the field

og bragte laboratoriet ud i marken,

where we could get better samples.

hvor vi kunne få bedre prøver.

And we did. We got better material.

Det fik vi. Vi fik et bedre materiale.

The cells looked better.

Cellerne så bedre ud.

The vessels looked better.

Blodkarrene så bedre ud.

Found the protein collagen.

Fandt collagen-proteinet.

I mean, it was wonderful stuff.

Det var herligt.

But it's not dinosaur DNA.

Men det er ikke dinosauer DNA.

So we have discovered

Men vi opdagede at

that dinosaur DNA, and all DNA,

dinosaur DNA, og al DNA

just breaks down too fast.

nedbrydes for hurtigt.

We're just not going to be able

Vi vil bare ikke kunne gøre det,

to do what they did in "Jurassic Park."

som de gjorde i "Jurassic Park."

We're not going to be able to make a dinosaur

Vi vil ikke være i stand til at lave en dinosaur

based on a dinosaur.

baseret på en dinosaur.

But birds are dinosaurs.

Men fugle er dinosaurere.

Birds are living dinosaurs.

Fugle er levende dinosaurere.

We actually classify them

Vi klassificerer dem faktisk

as dinosaurs.

som dinosaure.

We now call them non-avian dinosaurs

Nu kaldes de non-avian ("ikke fugle") dinosaure.

and avian dinosaurs.

og avian ("fugle") dinosaure.

So the non-avian dinosaurs

Så de non-avian dinosaure

are the big clunky ones that went extinct.

er de store klodsede, som uddøde.

Avian dinosaurs are our modern birds.

Avian dinosaurer er vore nulevende fugle.

So we don't have to make a dinosaur

Så vi behøver ikke at skabe en dinosaur

because we already have them.

for vi har dem allerede.

(Laughter)

(latter)

I know, you're as bad as the sixth-graders.

Jeg ved I er bedre end skolebørn!

(Laughter)

(latter)

The sixth-graders look at it and they say, "No."

Skolebørn ser på det og siger "Nej".

(Laughter)

(latter)

"You can call it a dinosaur,

"Du kan kalde det en dinosaur,

but look at the velociraptor: the velociraptor is cool."

men se på velociraptor - velociraptor er sej."

(Laughter)

(latter)

"The chicken is not."

"Der er kyllingen ikke."

(Laughter)

(latter)

So this is our problem,

Så dette er vores problem

as you can imagine.

som du forstår.

The chicken is a dinosaur.

Kyllingen er en dinosaur.

I mean it really is.

Jeg mener det virkelig.

You can't argue with it

Der er ingen diskussion

because we're the classifiers and we've classified it that way.

for vi er dem der har klassificeret det sådan.

(Laughter)

(latter)

(Applause)

(applaus)

But the sixth-graders demand it.

Men skolebarnet forlanger det.

"Fix the chicken."

"Fix kyllingen."

(Laughter)

(latter)

So that's what I'm here to tell you about:

Så det, er hvad jeg vil tale om:

how we are going to fix a chicken.

hvordan vi vil fixe en kylling.

So we have a number of ways

Vi har en del måder,

that we actually can fix the chicken.

hvorpå vi faktisk kan fixe kyllingen

Because evolution works,

Fordi evolutionen virker,

we actually have some evolutionary tools.

har vi faktisk nogle evolutions-værktøjer.

We'll call them biological modification tools.

Vi kalder dem biologisk modificerende værktøjer.

We have selection.

Vi har udvælgelse.

And we know selection works.

Vi ved hvordan udvælgelse virker.

We started out with a wolf-like creature

Vi begynte med et ulve-lignende kreatur.

and we ended up with a Maltese.

og endte med en Malteserhund.

I mean, that's --

Det er --

that's definitely genetic modification.

det er bestemt en genetisk modifikation.

Or any of the other funny-looking little dogs.

Eller andre sjovt udseende hunde.

We also have transgenesis.

Vi har også transgenese (overførsel af genetisk materiale fra én art til en anden)

Transgenesis is really cool too.

Transgenese er rigtig sejt.

That's where you take a gene out of one animal and stick it in another one.

Det sker, når du tager et gen fra et dyr og indsætter det i et andet.

That's how people make GloFish.

Det er sådan man laver GloFish.

You take a glow gene

Man tager et gløde-gen

out of a coral or a jellyfish

fra en koral eller en gople

and you stick it in a zebrafish,

og indsætter det i en zebrafisk.

and, puff, they glow.

Og - puf - de gløder.

And that's pretty cool.

Det er ret sejt.

And they obviously make a lot of money off of them.

De tjener åbenbart en masse på dem.

And now they're making Glow-rabbits

Og nu laver de gløde-kaniner

and Glow-all-sorts-of-things.

og gløde-alt-muligt.

I guess we could make a glow chicken.

Jeg tror vi kunne lave en gløde-kylling.

(Laughter)

(latter)

But I don't think that'll satisfy the sixth-graders either.

Men jeg tror ikke at det vil tilfredsstille alle skolebørn.

But there's another thing.

Men der er nogen andet.

There's what we call atavism activation.

Der findes det vi kalder atavistisk aktivering.

And atavism activation

Og atavitisk aktivering

is basically --

er i grunden --

an atavism is an ancestral characteristic.

en atavisme er en nedarvet egenskab.

You heard

I har hørt

that occasionally children are born with tails,

at børn undertiden fødes med haler,

and it's because it's an ancestral characteristic.

og det skyldes en nedarvet egenskab.

And so there are a number of atavisms

Der findes en del atavismer

that can happen.

som kan finde sted.

Snakes are occasionally born with legs.

Slanger fødes undertiden med ben.

And here's an example.

Her er et eksempel:

This is a chicken with teeth.

Dette er en kylling med tænder.

A fellow by the name of Matthew Harris

En fyr som hed Matthew Harris

at the University of Wisconsin in Madison

ved "University of Wisconsin" i Madison

actually figured out a way to stimulate

udtænkte en måde til

the gene for teeth,

at stimulere genet for tænder,

and so was able to actually turn the tooth gene on

og var således i stand til at tænde for tænder-genet

and produce teeth in chickens.

og frembringe tænder hos kyllinger.

Now that's a good characteristic.

Det er en god egenskab.

We can save that one.

Vi husker den.

We know we can use that.

Vi ved vi kan bruge den.

We can make a chicken with teeth.

Vi kan lave kyllinger med tænder.

That's getting closer.

Vi kommer tættere på.

That's better than a glowing chicken.

Det er bedre end en gløde-kylling.

(Laughter)

(latter)

A friend of mine, a colleague of mine,

En kollega,

Dr. Hans Larsson at McGill University,

Dr. Hans Larsson ved McGill Universitetet

is actually looking at atavisms.

beskæftiger sig med atavismer.

And he's looking at them

Han ser på dem

by looking at the embryo genesis of birds

ved at se på tilblivelsen af fugles embryoer,

and actually looking at how they develop,

og se på udviklingen af dem.

and he's interested in how birds actually lost their tail.

Og han er interesseret i hvordan fuglende mistede deres hale.

He's also interested in the transformation

Han er også interesseret i forvandlingen

of the arm, the hand, to the wing.

af armen og hånden til vingen.

He's looking for those genes as well.

Han leder også efter disse gener.

And I said, "Well, if you can find those,

Jeg sagde: "Hvis du kan finde dem,

I can just reverse them

så kan jeg bare omgøre virkningen af dem

and make what I need to make for the sixth-graders."

og gøre skolebørnene glade."

And so he agreed.

Og han var enig.

And so that's what we're looking into.

Så det beskæftiger vi os med for tiden.

If you look at dinosaur hands,

Hvis man ser på dinosaur-hænder,

a velociraptor

en velociraptor

has that cool-looking hand with the claws on it.

har den sejt udseende hånd med kløer på den.

Archaeopteryx, which is a bird, a primitive bird,

Archaeopteryx, som er en primitiv fugl,

still has that very primitive hand.

har stadig den meget primitive hånd.

But as you can see, the pigeon,

Men, som I kan se, har duen

or a chicken or anything else, another bird,

eller en kylling eller en anden fugl

has kind of a weird-looking hand,

har ligesom en mærkeligt udseende hånd,

because the hand is a wing.

fordi hånden er en vinge.

But the cool thing is

Men det seje er,

that, if you look in the embryo,

at hvis man kigger på embryoen,

as the embryo is developing

som embyoen udvikler sig,

the hand actually looks

så ser hånden faktisk næsten ud

pretty much like the archaeopteryx hand.

som en archaeopteryx-hånd.

It has the three fingers, the three digits.

Den har de tre fingre.

But a gene turns on that actually fuses those together.

Men et gen bliver tændt, som smelter dem sammen.

And so what we're looking for is that gene.

Det vi leder efter, er det gen.

We want to stop that gene from turning on,

Vi vil gerne hindre det gen i at tænde

fusing those hands together,

og smelte de hænder sammen,

so we can get a chicken that hatches out with a three-fingered hand,

så vi kan få en kylling med en tre-finger-hånd,

like the archaeopteryx.

ligesom en archaeopteryx.

And the same goes for the tails.

Det gælder også for halen.

Birds have basically

Fugle har i grunden

rudimentary tails.

en rudimentær hale.

And so we know

Vi ved

that in embryo,

at en embryo,

as the animal is developing,

som dyret udvikler sig,

it actually has a relatively long tail.

har den faktisk en relativ lang hale.

But a gene turns on

Men et gen tænder

and resorbs the tail, gets rid of it.

og skaffer sig af med halen.

So that's the other gene we're looking for.

Det er det andet gen, som vi leder efter.

We want to stop that tail from resorbing.

Vi ønsker at genet hindres i at halen bortskaffes.

So what we're trying to do really

Det vi faktisk prøver på,

is take our chicken,

er at tage vores kylling,

modify it

modificere det,

and make the chickenosaurus.

og lave en "kyllingsaurus".

(Laughter)

(latter)

It's a cooler-looking chicken.

Den ser sejere ud.

But it's just the very basics.

Men vi står blot ved selve begyndelsen.

So that really is what we're doing.

Det er faktisk det vi laver

And people always say, "Why do that?

Folk spørger altid: "Hvorfor beskæftiger I jer med det ?

Why make this thing?

Hvorfor lave sådan noget ?

What good is it?"

Hvad nytte er det til ?"

Well, that's a good question.

Det er et godt spørgsmål.

Actually, I think it's a great way to teach kids

Jeg tror det er en glimrende måde at lære børn

about evolutionary biology

om evolutionær biologi,

and developmental biology

og udviklings biologi,

and all sorts of things.

og den slags.

And quite frankly, I think

Og helt ærligt, så tror jeg

if Colonel Sanders

at hvis grundlæggeren af "Kentucky Fried Chicken"

was to be careful how he worded it,

udtrykte det forsigtigt

he could actually advertise an extra piece.

så kunne han reklamere med et ekstra stykke.

(Laughter)

(latter)

Anyway --

Men --

When our dino-chicken hatches,

Når vores dino-kyllinger udklækkes,

it will be, obviously, the poster child,

vil det selvfølgelig være et glansstykke

or what you might call a poster chick,

eller snarere en glans-høne.

for technology, entertainment and design.

for teknologi, underholdning og design.

Thank you.

Mange tak.

(Applause)

(applaus)