Physics of the Future: How Science Will Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily Lives by the Year 2100

with fur. However, we lost our fur when we began to sweat, which is a very efficient way to regulate the temperature of the body. (Dogs don’t have sweat glands, and so cool themselves off by panting.) The gene for human fur apparently still exists but has been turned off. Thus, by turning on this gene, it might be possible tohave people with fur all over their bodies. (Some have speculated that this may be responsible for the werewolf legend.)
    If we assume that some of the genes of the dinosaurs were in fact turned off for millions of years but still survive in the genome of birds, then it might be possible to reactivate these long-dormant genes and induce dinosaur characteristics in birds. So Dawkins’s proposal is speculative but not out of the question.
    CREATING NEW LIFE-FORMS
    This raises the final question: Can we create life according to our wishes? Is it possible to create not just long-extinct animals but also animals that have never existed before? For example, could we make a pig with wings or an animal described in ancient mythology? Even by the end of this century, science will not be able to create animals to order. However, science will go a long way to being able to modify the animal kingdom.
    So far, the limiting factor has been our ability to move genes around. Only single genes can be reliably modified. For example, it is possible to find a gene that causes certain animals to glow in the dark. This gene can be isolated, then placed in other animals so they glow in the dark. In fact, research is currently going on whereby family pets may be modified by the addition of single genes.
    But creating an entirely new animal, like a chimera from Greek mythology (which is the combination of three different animals), requires the transposition of thousands of genes. To create a pig with wings, you would have to move the hundreds of genes that represent the wing and make sure all the muscles and blood vessels match up properly. This is far beyond anything that can be done today.
    However, inroads have been made that might facilitate this futuristic possibility. Biologists were amazed to find that the genes that describe the layout of the body (from head to toe) were mirrored in the order in which they appear in the chromosomes. These are called the HOX genes, and they describe how the body is constructed. Nature, apparently, has taken a shortcut, mirroring the order of the organs of the body with the sequence found in the chromosomes themselves. This, in turn, has greatly accelerated the process by which the evolutionary history of these genes can be deciphered.
    Furthermore, there are master genes that apparently govern the properties of many other genes. By manipulating a handful of these master genes, you can manipulate the properties of dozens of other genes.
    In retrospect, we see that Mother Nature has decided to create the layout of the body in much the way an architect might create blueprints. The geometric layout of the blueprint is in the same order as the actual physical layout of the building. Also, the blueprints are modular, so that blocks of sub-blueprints are contained in a single master blueprint.
    In addition to creating entirely new hybrid animals by exploiting the modularity of the genome, there is also the possibility of applying genetics to humans, using biotechnology to bring back historical figures. Lanza believes that as long as an intact cell can be extracted from a long-dead person, it will be possible to bring this person back to life. In Westminster Abbey, we have the carefully preserved bodies of long-dead kings and queens, as well as poets, religious figures, politicians, and even scientists like Isaac Newton. One day, Lanza confided to me, it may be possible to find intact DNA within their bodies and bring them back to life.
    In the movie
The Boys from Brazil,
the plot revolves around bringing back Hitler. One should not believe, however, that one will be able to bring back the genius or notoriety of any of these historic figures. As one biologist noted, if you bring back Hitler, maybe all you get is a second-rate artist (which is what Hitler was before he led the Nazi movement).
    BAN ALL DISEASES?
    The prophetic movie
Things to Come
was based on a novel by H. G. Wells and predicted the future of civilization, where World War II unleashed a cycle of endless suffering and misery. Eventually, all the achievements of the human race are reduced to rubble, with gangs of warlords