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What is de-extinction? Thanks for asking.
The process of de-extinction is all about bringing extinct species back to life.
It became known in the 2010s thanks to an ambitious plan from American geneticists.
George Church, who dreamed of resurrecting the woolly mammoth, an animal which has been extinct for 3700 years.
Fast forward to the 2020s and Church's bioscience startup Colossal is now edging closer towards making that a reality.
As of March 2022, Colossal announced that it had raised a total of $75 million for the project.
Is it really possible to revive extinct animal species?
It's becoming more and more conceivable as genetics science is advancing rapidly.
American researcher Beth Sapiro released the book How to Clone a Mammoth in 2015.
According to Shapiro, geneticists can sequence an organism's genome using hair, blood or bone samples which contain DNA fragments.
But let's be clear, it's not possible to reproduce an animal that's completely identical to an extinct species.
After sequencing the mammoth's genome scientists would still need to edit the DNA of a close living relative.
Nevertheless there's still hope of creating an animal with similar characteristics to the mammoth.
Colossal's plan is in fact to create a hybrid species somewhere in between the woolly mammoth and modern day Asian elephants. using CRISPR gene editing technology, which works like molecular scissors.
Regular listeners will remember that we've already covered the subject in a previous episode of Do You Really Know? would we want to bring extinct species back to life?
Colossal says its project will help protect the layers of permafrost in the Arctic that have existed for thousands of years. but are now melting due to the effects of global warming.
Writing for The Conversation in May 2018, British geographer Paul Mann explained that in the Ice Age, mammoths in northern Siberia flattened grass and snow on the ground.
Their lifestyle and everyday behaviour contributed to keeping permafrost as cold as possible.
Colossal's other aim is to create a genetic toolkit to save species in danger of extinction, according to Ben Lamb, George Church's fellow co-founder. who was interviewed by TechCrunch in 2021.
It could be used to preserve white rhinos for example. by fertilizing the last remaining females with sperm from dead males.
How is the idea of de-extinction being received by the scientific community?
Prospective progress in genetics is leading to hope among researchers, but creating a new kind of woolly mammoth has also raised ethical issues and doubts.
Furthermore, there's no scientific proof that a troop of mammoths would save arctic permafrost.
A large scale repopulation plan would be needed, but the first mammoth is only expected in 2027.
Bearing in mind the urgency of the world's environmental crisis, that seems like too little, too late to many.
There you have it. Now you know what de-extinction is.
In under three minutes, we answer your questions.
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