David Attenborough: It鈥檚 amazing, the discoveries made in my lifetime. Have you heard of听hox听驳别苍别蝉?
Andrew Denton: No. (Then didn鈥檛 pursue the matter.) [From an interview a few years ago.]
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I鈥檝e always rather liked Andrew Denton,
But I thought he missed a good chance then,
Given all the time I鈥檝e spent on
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Reading up scientific gen.
Attenborough was, I think, intent on
Expanding on genetics again.
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But he never got the chance,
Imagine if he went on
To expound on the romance
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Of thrilling new knowledge,
The untold immense expanse
Of science now, and the homage
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Due to the science pioneers.
In many an institute and college
Through the last hundred years
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Sensational finds have been made
In a multitude of spheres,
In biology, astronomy, a cascade
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Of startling findings are now known:
The genetic code displayed,
It鈥檚 now been clearly shown
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That all life on earth is kin,
That the earth鈥檚 a speck alone
In the vast cosmic dark within
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Which a billion galaxies revolve.
Now, muons, gluons, quarks and their 鈥渟pin鈥
Present more conundrums to solve,
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With which quantum mechanics copes,
A mind-boggling topic, which might absolve
Us from getting up our feeble hopes
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Ever to understand the subject.
But bear in mind this theory scopes
(In a way we couldn鈥檛 expect)
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Devices like computers, lasers,
Which might induce us to respect
Physics findings in all their phases.
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This torrent of discoveries
Which our whole cerebellum dazes
Might, too, indulge our reveries
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That science knowledge might be liked,
Accepted not only by devotees
But by all, not spitefully spiked
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By those whose vested interests clash.
Climate scientists have striven and hiked
A million miles to check and rehash
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Their results, only to be vilified,
Traduced, by corporate cash
And their paid politicians, who lied.
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But to Attenborough again!
He was clearly seeking to confide
Genetic secrets to us then,
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Part of the amazing global survey
Since Crick and Watson, two young men,
Discovered the structure of DNA.
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So much more is known now,
The genetic code, evolution鈥檚 way:
How a spider relates to a cow,
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Fossils, the dinosaurs鈥 extinctions,
Continental drift, and how
Science makes true predictions.
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The genetics Attenborough instructed
(Hox听genes) lay out the directions
On which the body is constructed:
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The head here, limbs there, as if planned,
In amazing detail conducted.
This evidence itself is grand,
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The process fascinating too.
From the science we understand
More now about the 鈥済enome view鈥
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Of which the听hox听genes form a part.
The genome is what makes you you,
What makes听all听creatures from the start.
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And these discoveries have all been made
While Attenborough鈥檚 noble heart
Strove decade after decade
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To illuminate nature鈥檚 broad domain.
Lately his temper鈥檚 been more frayed
By the deniers鈥 and doubters鈥 campaign.
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His warnings are much stronger now
As his time ebbs, trying to explain
To his public they must not allow
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Vested interests to dominate.
Too much is at stake, so disavow
The purblind before it is too late.
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The urgency is still no less,
Attenborough鈥檚 vision still will rate.
I share his excitement at the progress
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Of modern science, not to abate
His warnings on our present state.