Building a dinosaur from a chicken | Jack Horner

Translator: Carlos Agras Reviewer: Andres Corral

When I was growing up in Montana,

De cativo, en Montana,

I had two dreams.

eu tiña dous soños.

I wanted to be a paleontologist,

Desexaba ser paleontólogo,

a dinosaur paleontologist,

paleontólogo de dinosauros,

and I wanted to have a pet dinosaur.

e quería ter un dinosauro coma mascota.

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

E por ese soño levo loitando

all of my life.

toda a miña vida.

I was very fortunate

Tiven moita sorte

early in my career.

ao principio da miña carreira.

I was fortunate

Tiven a sorte

in finding things.

de atopar cousas.

I wasn't very good at reading things.

Non era moi bo para ler cousas.

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

De feito, non leo moito de nada.

I am extremely dyslexic,

Son extremadamente disléxico

and so reading is the hardest thing I do.

e por iso me custa tanto ler.

But instead, I go out and I find things.

Pero, en lugar de ler, saio e atopo cousas.

Then I just pick things up.

Logo as recollo.

I basically practice for finding money on the street.

Basicamente practico para atopar cartos na rúa.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

And I wander about the hills,

E percorro os outeiros,

and I have found a few things.

e deste xeito descubrín algunhas cousas.

And I have been fortunate enough

E tiven tanta sorte como

to find things like the first eggs in the Western hemisphere

para atopar os primeiros ovos do hemisferio occidental

and the first baby dinosaurs in nests,

e os primeiros bebés dinosauro nos seus niños,

the first dinosaur embryos

os primeiros embrións de dinosauro

and massive accumulations of bones.

e unha acumulación masiva de ósos.

And it happened to be at a time

E isto sucedeu nun momento

when people were just starting to begin to realize

no que a xente recén chegada comezaba a darse de conta

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

de que os dinosauros non eran eses grandes réptiles verdes e parvos

that people had thought for so many years.

como se pensou durante anos.

People were starting to get an idea

A xente comezaba a facerse unha idea

that dinosaurs were special.

de que os dinosauros eran especiais.

And so, at that time,

Por iso, nese momento

I was able to make some interesting hypotheses

puiden arriscar algunhas hipóteses interesantes

along with my colleagues.

xunto aos meus colegas.

We were able to actually say

Estabamos en condicións de afirmar

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

que os dinosauros -coas evidencias que tiñamos-

that dinosaurs built nests

que os dinosauros facían niños

and lived in colonies

e vivían en colonias

and cared for their young,

coidando das súas crías,

brought food to their babies

alimentando aos seus bebés,

and traveled in gigantic herds.

e que viaxaban en manadas xigantes.

So it was pretty interesting stuff.

Por iso foi algo bastante interesante.

I have gone on to find more things

Fun máis alá e descubrín máis cousas,

and discover that dinosaurs really were very social.

como que os dinosauros eran en verdade moi sociais.

We have found a lot of evidence

Atopamos moitas probas

that dinosaurs changed

de que os dinosauros cambiaban

from when they were juveniles to when they were adults.

dende a etapa xuvenil ata a etapa adulta.

The appearance of them would have been different --

Que o seu aspecto fora diferente...

which it is in all social animals.

algo presente en todos os animais sociais.

In social groups of animals,

Nos grupos sociais de animais

the juveniles always look different than the adults.

os mozos sempre teñen un aspecto diferente ca os adultos.

The adults can recognize the juveniles;

Os adultos poden recoñecer aos mozos;

the juveniles can recognize the adults.

e os mozos poden recoñecer aos adultos.

And so we're making a better picture

Isto dános unha mellor idea

of what a dinosaur looks like.

do aspecto dos dinosauros.

And they didn't just all chase Jeeps around.

E eles non só perseguían Jeeps por aí.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

But it is that social thing

Pero é este aspecto social

that I guess attracted Michael Crichton.

o que supoño que suscitou o interese de Michael Crichton.

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

No seu libro falou dos animais sociais.

And then Steven Spielberg, of course,

Logo, Steven Spielberg, claro,

depicts these dinosaurs

retrata estes dinosauros

as being very social creatures.

como criaturas moi sociais.

The theme of this story is building a dinosaur,

O tema de esta historia é "Crear un dinosauro..."

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

e deste xeito chegamos á parte de "Parque Xurásico".

Michael Crichton really was one of the first people

Michael Crichton en realidade foi un dos primeiros

to talk about bringing dinosaurs back to life.

en falar de resucitar dinosauros.

You all know the story, right.

Todos coñecen a historia, ¿non sí?

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

Quero dicir, supoño que todos os presentes viron "Parque Xurásico".

If you want to make a dinosaur,

Se un quere facer un dinosauro,

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

sae fóra, atopa un anaco de zume de árbore petrificado

otherwise known as amber --

-tamén coñecido coma ámbar-

that has some blood-sucking insects in it,

que conteña algúns insectos que chupen sangue dentro,

good ones,

bos exemplares,

and you get your insect and you drill into it

e colle o insecto e fura nel

and you suck out some DNA,

e saca un pouco de ADN,

because obviously all insects that sucked blood in those days

porque obviamente, todos os insectos que chupaban sangue daquela

sucked dinosaur DNA out.

chupaban ADN de dinosauro.

And you take your DNA back to the laboratory

Un leva o ADN ao laboratorio

and you clone it.

e clónao.

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

E supoño que quizais o inxecta nun ovo de avestruz,

or something like that,

ou algo parecido,

and then you wait,

e logo espera,

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

e... quén o ía a dicir! Sae un pequeno bebé dinosauro.

And everybody's happy about that.

E todos contentos.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

And they're happy over and over again.

Contentos unha e outra vez.

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

Siguen facéndoo; siguen creando estas cousas

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

E deste xeito...

Then the dinosaurs, being social,

os dinosauros, seres sociais,

act out their socialness,

deixan de lado a súa sociabilidade,

and they get together,

xúntanse,

and they conspire.

e conspiran.

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

Claro, iso é o que acontece na película de Steven Spielberg.

conspiring dinosaurs chasing people around.

Dinosauros que conspiran e perseguen xente.

So I assume everybody knows

Supoño que todos saben

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

que si un tivera unha peza de ámbar cun insecto dentro

and you drilled into it,

e fura nela,

and you got something out of that insect,

e lle saca algo ao insecto,

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

clónao, e repite unha e outra vez,

you'd have a room full of mosquitos.

consigue unha sala chea de mosquitos.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

(Applause)

(Aplausos)

And probably a whole bunch of trees as well.

E probablemente unha chea de árbores tamén.

Now if you want dinosaur DNA,

Pero se un quere ADN de dinosauro,

I say go to the dinosaur.

eu digo: vaian ata os dinosauros.

So that's what we've done.

E iso é o que fixemos.

Back in 1993 when the movie came out,

En 1993, cando a película foi estreada,

we actually had a grant from the National Science Foundation

nós conseguimos unha bolsa da National Science Foundation

to attempt to extract DNA from a dinosaur,

para tratar de extraer ADN dun dinosauro.

and we chose the dinosaur on the left,

Eliximos o dinosauro da esquerda,

a Tyrannosaurus rex, which was a very nice specimen.

un Tiranosauro Rex, o cal era un exemplar moi bo.

And one of my former doctoral students,

E unha das miñas ex-estudantes de doctorado,

Dr. Mary Schweitzer,

a Dra. Mary Schweitzer,

actually had the background

tiña a formación

to do this sort of thing.

para facer este tipo de cousas.

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

Analizou un óso deste T-Rex,

one of the thigh bones,

un dos ósos da coxa,

and she actually found

e realmente atopou

some very interesting structures in there.

unhas estruturas moi interesantes alí.

They found these red circular-looking objects,

Atoparon estes obxectos vermellos de aparencia circular,

and they looked, for all the world,

que ante os ollos de todo o mundo

like red blood cells.

semellaban glóbulos vermellos.

And they're in

E están dentro

what appear to be the blood channels

do que parecen ser canles sanguíneas

that go through the bone.

que van a través do óso.

And so she thought, well, what the heck.

Entonces ela pensou, veña, qué diantres.

So she sampled some material out of it.

E tomou unha mostra do material.

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

Non era ADN; non atopou ADN.

But she did find heme,

Pero sí atopou hemo,

which is the biological foundation

que é a base biolóxica

of hemoglobin.

da hemoglobina.

And that was really cool.

Isto foi algo xenial.

That was interesting.

Foi interesante.

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

Foi como... Aquí temos hemo de 65 millóns de anos de idade.

Well we tried and tried

Ben, tratamos unha e outra vez

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

pero non puidemos extraer nada máis.

So a few years went by,

Pasaron uns anos

and then we started the Hell Creek Project.

e comezamos o Proxecto Hell Creek.

And the Hell Creek Project was this massive undertaking

O Proxecto Hell Creek era esta empresa de gran envergadura

to get as many dinosaurs as we could possibly find,

para acadar tantos dinosauros como fora posible,

and hopefully find some dinosaurs

coa esperanza de atopar algúns

that had more material in them.

que contivesen máis material.

And out in eastern Montana

Ao este de Montana

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

hai moito espacio, gran cantidade de terras baldías,

and not very many people,

e non moita xente.

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

Así que alí poden atoparse moitas cousas.

And we did find a lot of stuff.

E si, atopamos moitas cousas.

We found a lot of Tyrannosaurs,

Atopamos moitos Tiranosauros,

but we found one special Tyrannosaur,

pero demos cun en especial

and we called it B-rex.

ao que chamamos B-Rex.

And B-rex was found

Atopamos o B-Rex

under a thousand cubic yards of rock.

baixo case 800 metros cúbicos de rocha.

It wasn't a very complete T. rex,

Non era un T-rex moi completo,

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

nin moi grande,

but it was a very special B-rex.

pero era un B-Rex moi especial.

And I and my colleagues cut into it,

E cos meus colegas, cortámolo

and we were able to determine,

e puidemos determinar,

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

ao observar as súas liñas de crecemento freado, nalgunhas liñas del,

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

que o B-Rex morrera aos 16 anos.

We don't really know how long dinosaurs lived,

Non sabemos canto vivían os dinosauros

because we haven't found the oldest one yet.

porque aínda non dimos atopado ao máis lonxevo.

But this one died at the age of 16.

Pero este morreu aos 16 anos.

We gave samples to Mary Schweitzer,

Démoslle as mostras a Mary Schweitzer,

and she was actually able to determine

e ela puido determinar

that B-rex was a female

que o B-Rex era femia

based on medullary tissue

en base ao tecido medular

found on the inside of the bone.

atopado no interior do óso.

Medullary tissue is the calcium build-up,

O tecido medular é a acumulación de calcio,

the calcium storage basically,

é o almacenamento de calcio, básicamente,

when an animal is pregnant,

para cando un animal está preñado,

when a bird is pregnant.

para cando unha ave está preñada.

So here was the character

Este é o rasgo

that linked birds and dinosaurs.

que une aves e dinosauros.

But Mary went further.

Pero Mary foi máis alá.

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

Tomou o óso e botouno en ácido.

Now we all know that bones are fossilized,

Todos sabemos que os ósos están fosilizados

and so if you dump it into acid,

e, polo tanto, se un o bota en ácido,

there shouldn't be anything left.

non debería quedar nada.

But there was something left.

Pero quedou algo.

There were blood vessels left.

Quedaron vasos sanguíneos.

There were flexible, clear blood vessels.

Había vasos sanguíneos flexibles, dinstinguibles.

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

Este foi o primeiro tecido brando dun dinosauro.

It was extraordinary.

Foi algo extraordinario.

But she also found osteocytes,

Pero ela tamén atopou osteocitos,

which are the cells that laid down the bones.

que son as células que deixan os ósos.

And try and try, we could not find DNA,

Por moito que o tentamos, non pudimos atopar ADN

but she did find evidence of proteins.

pero ela si atopou evidencia de proteínas.

But we thought maybe --

Pero entón pensamos...

well, we thought maybe

ben, pensamos que quizais

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

o material estaba a descompoñerse unha vez era desenterrado.

We thought maybe it was deteriorating very fast.

Pensamos que quizais estaba deteriorándose moi rápido.

And so we built a laboratory

Por iso construimos un laboratorio

in the back of an 18-wheeler trailer,

no remolque dun camión articulado de 18 rodas,

and actually took the laboratory to the field

e levamos o laboratorio ao campo de traballo

where we could get better samples.

para acadar mellores mostras.

And we did. We got better material.

E lográmolo. Conseguimos un material mellor.

The cells looked better.

O aspecto das células mellorou.

The vessels looked better.

Os vasos sanguíneos víanse mellor.

Found the protein collagen.

Atopamos coláxeno.

I mean, it was wonderful stuff.

Quero dicir, foi algo marabilloso.

But it's not dinosaur DNA.

Pero non é ADN de dinosauro.

So we have discovered

Así que descubrimos

that dinosaur DNA, and all DNA,

que o ADN de dinosauro, e o ADN de todo,

just breaks down too fast.

descomponse moi rápido.

We're just not going to be able

Nós, simplemente, non somos capaces

to do what they did in "Jurassic Park."

de facer o que eles fixeron en "Parque Xurásico".

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

Non vamos poder crear un dinosauro

based on a dinosaur.

a partires dun dinosauro.

But birds are dinosaurs.

Pero as aves son dinosauros.

Birds are living dinosaurs.

As aves son dinosauros vivintes.

We actually classify them

De feito, as clasificamos

as dinosaurs.

coma os dinosauros.

We now call them non-avian dinosaurs

Agora as chamamos dinosauros non aviares

and avian dinosaurs.

e dinosauros aviares.

So the non-avian dinosaurs

Os dinosauros non aviares

are the big clunky ones that went extinct.

son os grandes e torpes que se extinguiron.

Avian dinosaurs are our modern birds.

Os dinosauros aviares son as nosas aves modernas.

So we don't have to make a dinosaur

Así, non temos que facer un dinosauro;

because we already have them.

porque xa os temos.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

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

Xa sei, vostedes sodes tan malos coma os cativos de sexto curso.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

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

Eles cando ven isto dicen: "Non".

(Laughter)

(Risas)

"You can call it a dinosaur,

"Podes chamalo dinosauro

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

pero mira para o velociraptor: o velociraptor mola".

(Laughter)

(Risas)

"The chicken is not."

"O polo non".

(Laughter)

(Risas)

So this is our problem,

Así que este é o noso problema,

as you can imagine.

como podedes imaxinar.

The chicken is a dinosaur.

O polo é un dinosauro.

I mean it really is.

Quero dicir, en realidade o é.

You can't argue with it

Non poden discutir iso,

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

porque nós somos os clasificadores e nós o clasificamos asi.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

(Applause)

(Aplausos)

But the sixth-graders demand it.

Pero os cativos de sexto curso esíxeno.

"Fix the chicken."

"Melloren o polo".

(Laughter)

(Risas)

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

Por iso estou aquí para contarlles iso,

how we are going to fix a chicken.

cómo imos mellorar o polo.

So we have a number of ways

Hai varias maneiras

that we actually can fix the chicken.

de mellorar o polo.

Because evolution works,

Porque a evolución funciona

we actually have some evolutionary tools.

e temos ferramentas evolutivas.

We'll call them biological modification tools.

Chamarémoslles ferramentas de modificación biolóxica.

We have selection.

Hai selección natural.

And we know selection works.

Sabemos que a selección funciona.

We started out with a wolf-like creature

Comezamos cunha criatura semellante ao lobo

and we ended up with a Maltese.

e rematamos cun maltés.

I mean, that's --

Quero dicir...

that's definitely genetic modification.

isto definitivamente é modificación xenética.

Or any of the other funny-looking little dogs.

Ou calquera dos outros tipos de cadeliños chistosos.

We also have transgenesis.

Tamén temos a transxénese.

Transgenesis is really cool too.

A transxénese tamén é xenial.

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

Trata de sacarlle un xene a un animal e poñerllo a outro.

That's how people make GloFish.

Así é como se fai un GloFish.

You take a glow gene

Sácase un xene fluorescente

out of a coral or a jellyfish

dun coral ou dunha augamar

and you stick it in a zebrafish,

e colócase nun peixe cebra,

and, puff, they glow.

e xa está, xa resplandece.

And that's pretty cool.

Isto é bastante xenial.

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

Obviamente, gañan moito diñeiro con eles.

And now they're making Glow-rabbits

Agora andan a facer coellos fluorescentes

and Glow-all-sorts-of-things.

e todo tipo de cousas fluorescentes.

I guess we could make a glow chicken.

Supoño que poderiamos facer un polo fluorescente.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

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

Pero creo que iso tampouco contentaría aos nenos de sexto curso.

But there's another thing.

Pero hai outra cousa.

There's what we call atavism activation.

Está o que chamamos activación de atavismo

And atavism activation

A activación de atavismo

is basically --

básicamten é...

an atavism is an ancestral characteristic.

un atavismo é un rasgo ancestral.

You heard

Terán escoitado

that occasionally children are born with tails,

que ocasionalmente tanto cativos como cativas nacen con rabo,

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

e iso débese a que é un rasgo ancestral.

And so there are a number of atavisms

Poden ocurrir

that can happen.

moitos atavismos.

Snakes are occasionally born with legs.

Ás veces as serpes nacen con patas.

And here's an example.

Este é un exemplo.

This is a chicken with teeth.

Este é un polo con dentes.

A fellow by the name of Matthew Harris

Un compañeiro chamado Matthew Harris

at the University of Wisconsin in Madison

da Universidade de Wisconsin, en Madison,

actually figured out a way to stimulate

descubriu unha maneira de estimular

the gene for teeth,

o xene dos dentes,

and so was able to actually turn the tooth gene on

e foi capaz activar o xene dos dentes

and produce teeth in chickens.

e producir polos con dentes.

Now that's a good characteristic.

Este é un bo rasgo.

We can save that one.

Podemos recuperalo.

We know we can use that.

Sabemos cómo usalo.

We can make a chicken with teeth.

Podemos facer un polo con dentes.

That's getting closer.

Isto acércase máis o obxectivo.

That's better than a glowing chicken.

É mellor que un polo fluorescente.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

A friend of mine, a colleague of mine,

Un amigo meu, un colega,

Dr. Hans Larsson at McGill University,

o Dr. Hans Larsson da Universidade McGill

is actually looking at atavisms.

está a estudiar os atavismos.

And he's looking at them

O seu análise consiste

by looking at the embryo genesis of birds

en mirar a xénese do embrión das aves

and actually looking at how they develop,

e en realidade mira como se desenvolven,

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

e está interesado en determinar cómo foi que as aves perderon a súa cola.

He's also interested in the transformation

Tamén lle interesa a transformación

of the arm, the hand, to the wing.

do brazo, da man, nunha á.

He's looking for those genes as well.

Tamén está a estudar eses xenes.

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

E eu dixen: "Ben, se podes atopalos,

I can just reverse them

podo revertilos

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

e facer o que necesito para os cativos de sexto curso".

And so he agreed.

Él estivo de acordo.

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

Andamos niso.

If you look at dinosaur hands,

Se un mira as mans dos dinosauros,

a velociraptor

un velociraptor

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

ten esa man xenial coas súas poutas.

Archaeopteryx, which is a bird, a primitive bird,

O Archaeopteryx, unha ave, unha ave primitiva,

still has that very primitive hand.

aínda ten esa man moi primitiva.

But as you can see, the pigeon,

Pero coma poden ver, a pomba,

or a chicken or anything else, another bird,

ou o polo ou calqueira outra ave,

has kind of a weird-looking hand,

teñen unha man un pouco rara,

because the hand is a wing.

porque a man é unha á.

But the cool thing is

Pero o xenial é que

that, if you look in the embryo,

se un mira o embrión

as the embryo is developing

durante a súa xestación

the hand actually looks

a man parécese, en realidade,

pretty much like the archaeopteryx hand.

bastante á man do Archaeopteryx.

It has the three fingers, the three digits.

Ten os tres dedos, as tres xemas.

But a gene turns on that actually fuses those together.

Pero hay un xene que ao activarse os une.

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

E por iso estamos buscando ese xene.

We want to stop that gene from turning on,

Queremos evitar que ese xene se active,

fusing those hands together,

evitar que fusione esas mans,

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

para acadar un polo cunha man de tres dedos,

like the archaeopteryx.

coma o Archaeopteryx.

And the same goes for the tails.

E o mesmo pasa coas colas.

Birds have basically

As aves teñen básicamente

rudimentary tails.

colas rudimentarias.

And so we know

E sabemos

that in embryo,

que no embrión,

as the animal is developing,

durante a xestación do animal,

it actually has a relatively long tail.

este ten unha cola relativamente longa.

But a gene turns on

Pero aparece un xene

and resorbs the tail, gets rid of it.

que reabsorbe a cola, elimínaa.

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

Ese é outro xene que andamos a procurar.

We want to stop that tail from resorbing.

Queremos deter a reabsorción da cola.

So what we're trying to do really

En realidade, o que estamos intentando

is take our chicken,

é tomar un polo,

modify it

modificalo,

and make the chickenosaurus.

e facer o "polosaurus".

(Laughter)

(Risas)

It's a cooler-looking chicken.

Isto é un polo cun aspecto mellor.

But it's just the very basics.

Pero é algo moi elemental

So that really is what we're doing.

Iso é o que estamos a facer.

And people always say, "Why do that?

E a xente sempre di: Por qué o fan?

Why make this thing?

Por qué facer isto?

What good is it?"

De qué serve?

Well, that's a good question.

Ben, ésa é unha boa pregunta.

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

Creo que é unha gran forma de ensinar aos nenos

about evolutionary biology

bioloxía evolutiva,

and developmental biology

bioloxía do desenvolvemento

and all sorts of things.

e todo tipo de cousas.

And quite frankly, I think

Francamente, penso que

if Colonel Sanders

se o Coronel Sanders [de Kentucky Fried Chicken, NT]

was to be careful how he worded it,

tivese coidado coa forma de dicilo,

he could actually advertise an extra piece.

podería publicitar unha peza extra.

(Laughter)

(Risas)

Anyway --

Como sexa...

When our dino-chicken hatches,

cando o noso dino-polo rompa a casca

it will be, obviously, the poster child,

será, obviamente, o rapaz da foto,

or what you might call a poster chick,

ou o que vostedes chamarían o pito/rapaza da foto ["poster chick" no orixinal, NT].

for technology, entertainment and design.

Para tecnoloxía, entretemento e deseño [TED, NT].

Thank you.

Grazas.

(Applause)

(Aplausos)