Jurassic Park
Owens 1
Tim Owens
BIO_1610
Class Date: 10/26/2015
Jurassic Park
There were numerous interesting scientific movies I could have based my research on as
far as biological accuracies and inaccuracies go. After thinking, my final choice was Jurassic
Park. It is a movie about a paleontologist who goes to this island to inspect it for safety.
However, upon his arrival, a big tropical storm comes along and cancels the paleontologist’s tour
of the island for the day. While the storm is taking place, someone named Dennis Nedry is
trying to steal dinosaur embryos. In doing so, he deactivates park security to allow his access to
the embryo storage room. Deactivating park security in turn, turns off the electrical fences
which keeps the dinosaurs at bay from the tourists. Then the group is on the run the rest of the
movie and would eventually survive and get off the island. I found a few likely possibilities of
biological accuracies and also a few inaccuracies. These accuracies and inaccuracies will be
discussed.
There were only a few biological accuracies in which I was able to relate to being true in
today’s world. In the movie, a scientist extracts DNA from a mosquito that was found fossilized
in amber. The DNA was then used to create dinosaurs for the theme park. The only accuracy I
brought forth with this subject is that when extracting genetic material and using DNA
recombination, it can help to create gene therapies and other drugs. Recombinant DNA is a
single DNA molecule that is made from two different sources. (Pg. 327-328) For example,
cloned complementary DNA has been used to produce various human proteins in
Jurassic Park
Owens 2
microorganisms. Even though the dinosaurs aren’t supposed to breed in the movie, the
paleontologist comes across dinosaur eggs. This implies that genetic material or DNA is passed
on to the baby dinosaurs from its breeding mother and father. This is the second realistic thing
that I noticed in the movie. Today when two sex’s breed, the genetics from the mother and
father are passed to the newborn. (Pg. 397) Those are two biological accuracies that I noticed
throughout the movie.
Inaccuracies were all over the place, two of which that interested me most were when the
scientist said that there are only females in the park, and also when they found DNA from
dinosaur blood in a mosquito. When the scientist told explained that there were only female
organisms in the park, it made me think instantly. Later in the movie the paleontologist found
dinosaur eggs, which means that the dinosaurs were breeding. It was said that the dinosaurs
somehow changed sex in a same sex environment. In real life, nothing can change its sex, even
in a same sex environment. In Jurassic Park, it is said that when pairing the DNA chromosomes
with those of an African Frog, due to the frog’s ability to change sex’s in the real world, the
same thing happened in Jurassic Park. There is no scientific proof of that happening. (Pg. 1086)
The most noticeable inaccuracy was the fact that DNA only has a half-life of around 521 years,
which makes the possibility of a modern day Jurassic Park impossible. Even if DNA was in the
mosquito when amber went over it, there is nothing for the cells to feed on meaning the DNA
would die. The reason that this is known is because DNA deteriorates at quite a predictable
pace. (Pg. 264)
There are many other biological accuracies and inaccuracies to be found in Jurassic Park,
but I chose the ones that stood out the most to me. The impact that this movie has on the
public’s perception of science is positive I believe. The movie gets people to think more about
Jurassic Park
Owens 3
how DNA and other types of organisms actually work. It definitely had a positive impact on my
thoughts. As stated in the article Cinema Peer Review: ‘Jurassic Park’ “No movie has
influenced our modern perception of dinosaurs more than 1993’s Jurassic Park.” (Palmer).
When Jurassic Park first came out, it immediately made me think about science and fossilization
of dinosaurs. Therefore, my assumptions are it had a positive impact on the public perception’s
opinion towards science.
Jurassic Park
Owens 4
Works Cited
Mason, Kenneth, Jonathan Losos, and Susan Singer. Bilogy. 10th ed. 532-533, 397, 1086, 264.
Print.
Palmer, Roxanne. "Cinema Peer Review: 'Jurassic Park'" World Science Festival; Rethink
Science. 20 June 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.