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Source: CNN
Evidence of past life on our planet is ubiquitously present in our surroundings. Soil and rocks serve as historical archives that narrate the history of our planet through various geological eras. Fascinating evidences include the oldest fossil forest, which grew approximately 390 million years ago, showcasing an entirely different biological world from our own.
Complementing the story told by fossil forests, individual fossils provide a perspective of the rich diversity that has graced the earth and subsequently vanished. A poignant example is the graves uncovered from past epochs serve as windows into the lives of humans who endured hardships beyond our imaginations in the bygone centuries.
Life on Earth is a tale of inevitable change, and our epoch is but one chapter of this perpetual dynamic story. So much so that scientists too struggle to concur if we have turned over a new page in Earth’s geological book.
Although reviving extinct lifeforms might sound like science fiction, significant advancements in scientific trials hold the potential to materialize this impossibility in the foreseeable future.
The Titan of the Mammoths, resembling its extinct counterpart, stands as a testament to these diligent efforts. Boosted by a ground-breaking biotechnological boost, an ambitious Dallas-based company, Colossal Biosciences, managed to genetically modify cells from an Asian elephant – the mammoth’s closest living relative. The goal? To engineer a mammoth or elephant hybrid furnished to survive in the Arctic with its robust woolly coat.
The resurrection of these mammoths, the company believes, could potentially help reinstate the vulnerable Arctic tundra, currently under threat due to global warming.
In the meanwhile, the James Webb Space Telescope has been busy exploring galaxies mired in adolescent darkness of some 700 million years. The recent discovery of a ‘dead galaxy’ sheds light on a rather peculiar phenomenon of galaxies being prematurely deprived of gas necessary to form stars.
The unending quest of discovering our past has also unearthed an 8600-year-old bread sample, pushing back the dawn of ‘baker age’ humans to 6600 BC. Simultaneously, the humble Camembert cheese is now on the verge of extinction due to the dwindling population of the fungus used in its formation.
Our saga with birds began some 120 million years ago when these feathered creatures once boasted rows of intimidating teeth! Fast forward to the present, and the discovery of an ancient toothless bird species, fondly named ‘Attenborough’s strange bird,’ challenges our understanding of avian evolution.
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