West Wake News

North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences issued the following announcement on March 31.

“Ancient DNA: The Making of a Celebrity Science,” a new book from science historian Elizabeth Jones (pictured above), reveals the untold story of the rise of the new scientific field of ancient DNA research, and how “Jurassic Park” and popular media influenced its development over the past 30 years. Jones is the coordinator for Cretaceous Creatures, a public science project in the Paleontology Research Lab at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, and a postdoctoral researcher at her alma mater of North Carolina State University.

Ancient DNA research — the recovery of genetic material from long-dead organisms ranging from dinosaurs to mammoths and Neanderthals — is a research field that developed from science fiction into a reality between the 1980s and today. Drawing on scientific, historical, and archival material, as well as exclusive interviews with more than 50 researchers worldwide, Jones explores the field’s formation and explains its relationship with the media by examining its close connection to de-extinction, the science and technology of resurrecting extinct species.

In this behind-the-scenes look into science, Jones reveals how the search for DNA from fossils flourished under the influence of intense press and public interest, particularly as this new line of research coincided with the book and movie “Jurassic Park.” “Ancient DNA” is the first account to trace the historical and sociological interplay between science and celebrity in the rise of this new research field. As Jones argues, ancient DNA research is more than a public-facing science: it is a celebrity science.

Original source can be found here.