VOA科学技术2023 美国一公司拟复活已灭绝的渡渡鸟（在线收听）

More investors are supporting a biotechnology company working on ways to bring back animals that have died off.

越来越多的投资者支持一家生物技术公司，该公司致力于研究复活已经灭绝的动物的方法。

Some scientists, however, are doubtful such research efforts are possible — or even a good idea.

然而，一些科学家怀疑这样的研究是否是可能的，是否是一个好主意。

Colossal Biosciences first announced its plan to bring back a hairy ancestor of today's elephants, known as the woolly mammoth, two years ago.

两年前，Colossal Biosciences首次宣布其计划复活如今大象的多毛祖先——猛犸象。

Recently, the company said it wanted to bring back the dodo bird: a large, flightless bird.

最近，该公司表示，其希望复活渡渡鸟：一种不会飞的大鸟。

"The dodo is a symbol of man-made extinction," said Ben Lamm of Colossal Biosciences.

Colossal Biosciences的本·拉姆说：“渡渡鸟是人为灭绝的象征”。

The company has formed a special group that works on bird-related genetic technologies.

该公司已经成立了一个专门研究鸟类相关基因技术的小组。

The last dodo was killed in 1681 on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.

最后一只渡渡鸟于1681年在印度洋的毛里求斯岛上被杀。

Colossal Biosciences is based in the city of Dallas, Texas.

Colossal Biosciences的总部位于得克萨斯州的达拉斯市。

It started operations in 2021.

它于2021年开始运营。

Recently, the company announced it had raised an additional $150 million in financing.

最近，该公司宣布其又筹集了1.5亿美元的资金。

To date, it has raised $225 million from many investors that include United States Innovative Technology Fund, Breyer Capital and In-Q-Tel, an organization supporting national security agencies.

到目前为止，它已经从许多投资者那里筹集了2.25亿美元，其中包括美国创新技术基金、布雷耶资本和支持国家安全机构的组织In-Q-Tel。

The possibility of bringing the dodo back is not expected to directly make money, said Lamm.

拉姆说，复活渡渡鸟的可能性预计不会直接获取利润。

But the genetic tools and equipment that the company develops to try to do it may have other uses, including for human health care, he said.

但他说，该公司开发的基因工具和设备可能会有其他用途，其中包括人类医疗保健。

For example, Colossal Biosciences is now testing tools to change several parts of the genome at the same time.

例如，Colossal Biosciences目前正在测试同时改变基因组一些部分的工具。

It is also working on technologies for what is sometimes called an "artificial womb," he said.

他说，该公司还在研究有时被称为“人造子宫”的技术。

The dodo's closest living relative is the Nicobar pigeon, said Beth Shapiro, a scientific advisor with the bioscience company.

该生物科学公司的科学顾问贝丝·夏皮罗说，渡渡鸟现存的近亲是尼科巴鸠。

She has been studying the dodo for 20 years.

她研究渡渡鸟已有20年了。

She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz and receives financial support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

她是加利福尼亚大学圣克鲁斯分校的教授，获得了霍华德·休斯医学研究所的经济支持。

The organization also supports The Associated Press' Health and Science Department.

该组织还支持美联社的健康和科学部。

Shapiro's team plans to study DNA differences between the Nicobar pigeon and the dodo to understand "what are the genes that really make a dodo a dodo," she said.

夏皮罗的团队计划研究尼科巴鸠和渡渡鸟之间的DNA差异，以了解“真正使渡渡鸟成为渡渡鸟的基因是什么，”她说。

The team may then attempt to change Nicobar pigeon cells to make them seem like dodo cells.

然后，该研究小组可能会尝试编辑尼科巴鸠的细胞，使其看起来像渡渡鸟的细胞。

It may be possible to put the changed cells into developing eggs of other birds, such as pigeons or chickens.

有可能将编辑后的细胞植入其他鸟类（如鸽子或鸡）正在发育的卵中。

Then the birds might create young that could naturally produce dodo eggs, said Shapiro.

夏皮罗说，然后这些鸟可能会生出能够自然产生渡渡鸟卵的幼鸟。

The idea is not yet fully developed.

这个想法还没有完全成熟。

Shapiro said animals are a product of both their genetics and their environment — which has changed a lot since the 1600s.

夏皮罗说，动物是基因和环境的产物——自17世纪以来，环境发生了很大变化。

She added, "it's not possible to recreate a 100% identical copy of something that's gone."

她还说，“不可能完全复制出已经消失的东西。”

Other scientists wonder if it is even a good idea to attempt to recreate species that have died off.

其他科学家想知道，试图复活已经灭绝的物种是否是一个好主意。

They question whether such efforts take attention and money away from attempts to save living species.

他们质疑这样的研究是否会分散人们拯救现存物种的注意力和资金。

There is a real risk "in saying that if we destroy nature, we can just put it back together again — because we can't," said Duke University's Stuart Pimm, who has no connection with the company.

杜克大学的斯图尔特·皮姆与该公司没有任何联系，他说，“如果我们破坏了自然，我们能够恢复它，这样真的存有风险，因为我们无法恢复它。”

"And where on Earth would you put a woolly mammoth, other than in a cage?" Pimm said.

“除了笼子，你还会把猛犸象放在哪里呢？”皮姆说。

He also said that the environment where mammoths lived disappeared long ago.

他还说，猛犸象生活的环境很久以前就消失了。

Biologists who know about captive breeding programs say that it can be difficult for zoo-bred animals to live in the wild.

了解圈养繁殖计划的生物学家表示，动物园饲养的动物很难在野外生活。

Boris Worm is a biologist with the University of Dalhousie in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

鲍里斯·沃姆是新斯科舍省达尔豪斯大学的生物学家。

He is also not linked to Colossal Biosciences.

他也与Colossal Biosciences没有关系。

He said animals need to learn from other wild animals of their kind — something that dodos and mammoths would not be able to do.

他说，动物需要向其他同类野生动物学习，这是渡渡鸟和猛犸象无法做到的。

"Preventing species from going extinct in the first place should be our priority, and in most cases, it's a lot cheaper," he said.

他说：“从一开始就防止物种灭绝应该是我们的首要任务，而且在大多数情况下，这样做的成本要低得多”。

I'm John Russell.

约翰·拉塞尔为您播报。