Reverse Evolution: Chicken-osaurus

This Discovery article discusses Jack Horner's vision to reverse engineer a dinosaur by way of a chicken embryo. The article is taken from his book, How to Build a Dinosaur. The NY Times summary answers a few questions of practical application.

The growth of the tail is tied into the problem of the spinal chord, and spinal chord birth defects in human are a major medical problem. Learning more about what prompts and stops tail growth could give us important insights about serious human birth defects.

The final quote comes from the Discovery article as Mr. Horner describes his quest for learning.

I don't like providing answers. ... I like questions. I like asking them, trying to figure out answers, trying to figure out what we are really asking, and seeing what new questions come up.