New High-Tech Look at an Old Animal
July 12, 2024
Researchers have produced the first three-dimensional structure of the woolly mammoth’s genome, potentially aiding efforts to re-create a living version of the extinct animal, NPR reports. This possibility is imaginatively explored in The Last Animal, which Mark Schaefer reviews in Issues. The novel builds on the science and technology likely to be employed “to take readers on an action-packed, globetrotting quest,” Schaefer writes. Recounting the struggles of the paleobiology graduate student centrally involved in the work, he adds, also provides “a vivid portrayal of the challenges women face in pursuing careers in the research environment.”