De-extinction

Colossal Biosciences, which calls itself “the world’s first de-extinction company,” has created stem cells it thinks will hasten the company’s marquee goal of resurrecting the woolly mammoth. The team’s research describing the accomplishment will be hosted on the preprint server bioRxiv.What Drew John Boyega Back Into Sci-Fi? | io9 InterviewThe cells are induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), a type of cell that can be reprogrammed to develop into any other type of cell. The cells are especially useful in bioengineering,…

The victims of extinction are countless and their are killers numerous—but, in recent centuries, there’s been one obvious, enduring culprit: Homo sapiens. A Mononykus Hunts In ‘Prehistoric Planet’As humankind has increased in numbers and technologized, more and more species have disappeared for good. Or have they really? Scientists may finally be on the verge of breakthroughs that can simulate some animals’ resurrection. But, despite what Jurassic Park led us to believe, simply having a creature’s DNA isn’t enough to…

An artist’s imagining of the dodo bird, which went extinct in the 17th century.Illustration: Colossal BiosciencesGenetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences said Tuesday that it will try to resurrect the extinct dodo bird, and it’s received $150 million in new funding to support its “de-extinction” activities.The dodo was already part of Colossal’s plans by September 2022, but now the company has announced it with all the pomp, circumstance, and seed funding that suggests it will actually go after that goal. The $150…

Colossal Biosciences, the headline-grabbing, venture-capital-funded juggernaut of de-extinction science, announced plans on January 31 to bring back the dodo. Whether “bringing back” a semblance of the extinct flightless bird is feasible is a matter of debate. Founded in 2021 by tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm and Harvard University geneticist George Church, the company first said it would re-create the mammoth. And a year later it announced such an effort for the thylacine, aka the Tasmanian tiger. Now, with the launch of a…

If they can make a dunnart cell with enough thylacine DNA, the next step is to use cloning to try to create an embryo—and, eventually, an animal. Another project involves trying to turn Asian elephants into something resembling a woolly mammoth, by adding genes for cold resistance and thick red hair. There are no resurrected species yet, of course. Ord’s job as “director, species restoration” is really about an imagined future, in which a high-tech combination of DNA technology, stem-cell research, gene editing, and…

Mammoth skeletons at auction in 2017.Photo: Rob Stothard (Getty Images)A venture capital firm funded by the CIA has officially placed its bets on bringing back extinct species like the woolly mammoth and the thylacine, according to a public portfolio released this month and spotted by The Intercept.The company is called In-Q-Tel, and its mission (according to its website) is to invest in technologies that bolster the United States’ national security. In-Q-Tel is over 20 years old, but only now have its taxpayer dollars…

A platypus at the Taronga Zoo in Australia.Photo: Mark Metcalfe (Getty Images)Eight-six years ago today, the last known thylacine died in a zoo in Hobart, Tasmania. To commemorate the extinction of the Tasmanian tiger, as it’s commonly known, September 7 is now National Threatened Species Day in Australia, a day to celebrate Australia’s remarkable wildlife and consider how best to conserve it.And there is an abundance of Australian fauna that needs conserving. From the striped numbat and the long-eared bilby to the…

The last known thylacine (Thylacinus cynocephalus, or Tasmanian tiger) died in Hobart’s Beaumaris Zoo in 1936. Now, a genetic engineering company that last year announced plans to put thousands of woolly mammoths back on the Siberian steppe has added the lost marsupial wolf to its de-extinction docket.The company’s name is Colossal, and its declared aim is to bring back species wiped off the face of the planet by things like climate change (the mammoths) and humankind (the thylacine). These days, those two threats go…