THE NEXT SPECIES OF HUMAN: AN ESSAY PAPER

By: Diane De la Cruz

TED Talks are truly informational, aside from the great knowledge and discourse
being shared, the speakers are very engaging and interesting – their sense of humor in
their talks are also a bonus. And as for the talk by Juan Enriquez about the Next
Species of Humans, what truly caught me was the Axolotl; the talk about this creature
gave me an enlightenment about how significant this creature is as a model organism
for studying regeneration.

Aside from the three trends mentioned in the talk: the ability to engineer cells,
tissues, and robots, the Axolotl, which turns out as biology’s beloved amphibian, is a
very fascinating creature. I am fascinated by the fact that it can regrow its limbs. And the
most exciting part is, and I quote “you freeze half its brain, it regrows, freeze half its
heart, it regrows”. Now, I have always been skeptical about the “rocket science” behind
regenerating limbs, heart, brain, lungs etc. The last time I watched a movie was The
Spiderman and the scientist which infused his missing arm with the regeneration ability
of a lizard, turned him into a maniac and this weirdly gave me the impression about the
“rocket science” behind biotechnology, genetic engineering, or simply, regeneration.
However, this impression of mine really changed when I watched the talk about axolotls.
One, it’s much cuter compared to lizards, knowing both creatures can regenerate its
limbs, axolotls look much friendlier (but lizards are great creatures too.) Second,
axolotls can be domesticated but I believe they’re very sensitive creatures. And lastly,
axolotls are interestingly neotenic, which means they can they retain most of their larval
features into adulthood which is really interesting for me.

All of these has really given me enlightenment as to how science and technology
steps up its game to provide humanity with great knowledge about our nature. Indeed,
nature has great wonders, and Axolotls are just a part of how complex nature is. Which
is why as with us humans, I believe its our moral responsibility to care for “all creatures
great and small.”