Danielle Solzman
In Genesis 2.0, we learn that there are scientists who wish to defy every rule on the planet by seeking back the woolly mammoth from extinction.
Just over 25 years ago, InGen CEO John Hammond had a dream. A dream that led him to bring back dinosaurs that have been extinct since prehistoric time. This is featured in Jurassic Park, of course. While Genesis 2.0 is not a documentary about that dream, it very well could be. Rather than travel to the now-destroyed Isla Nublar, we find ourselves in the New Siberian Islands. These islands are located in the Arctic Ocean where hunters are searching not for mosquitoes buried in amber but rather for mammoth tusks. Previously preserved in permafrost, climate change changed the landscape. Now these tusks are easier to find than ever before! If you’re looking to make a quick $45,000-$90,000, it just might be the job for you!
Rather than make an attempt to bring back the dinosaurs, these hunters are seeking to break back the woolly mammoth. Easier said than done, right? Anyway, they find one such mammoth that is fully preserved much to everyone’s surprise. We’re talking fully preserved people! Not just bones but fur and blood, too! Is this the genetics breakthrough that the world has been waiting for? This is really hard to say. I guess cloning living animals like Dolly the sheep is easier than animals that have been extinct for ages.
There’s a clip from TLC where somebody wants to clone their dog, Trouble. This segues into a scene in which we learn that dogs CAN be cloned if you have $100,000 to fork over. Nobody wanted to rescue a shelter dog? They’re the ones in need of a home! If you have the money and chances are unlikely that you do, you can fork over the needed money to bring back your four-legged friend when they pass away. Sorry, I got distracted for a moment while setting up a GoFundMe campaign to clone a friend of mine.
“The cloning of dogs is extremely difficult,” says cloning pioneer Woo Suk Hwang of Sooam Biotech. It should be noted that he’s been involved in his fair share of scandals. While scientists worldwide weren’t able to succeed, he says that he was able “to successfully clone an Afghan hound named Snuppy”. This happened back in 2005. The company has currently cloned 895 dogs up through when the interview was filmed. For an idea on timing, this film held its world premiere during the 2018 Sundance Film Festival.
The Jurassic Park franchise should be the very reason why such cloning is a very bad idea. To quote the great Dr. Ian Malcolm in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, “And now we’ve got genetic power, so how long is it going to take to spread around the globe and what’s going to be done with it?” In spite of this, Genesis 2.0 shows that both Russian and South Korean scientists are hellbent on bringing back the woolly mammoth.
DIRECTORS: Christian Frei and Maxim Arbugaev
FEATURING: Peter Grigoriev, Semyon Grigoriev, George Church, Spira Sleptsov, Woo Suk Hwang
