The Company Trying to Clone Woolly Mammoths

Who is The Company Trying to Clone Woolly Mammoths?

Taken from JRE 1927 w/Forrest Galante:

Topics and Timestamps

• 01Forrest Galante discusses efforts to resurrect extinct species, particularly woolly mammoths, through advanced genetic technology
• 02The science behind de-extinction involves extracting DNA from preserved remains and filling genetic gaps with modern elephant DNA
• 03Companies are working on bringing mammoths back to help restore Arctic ecosystems and combat climate change
• 04The ethical implications of playing God and whether we should resurrect species that went extinct naturally
• 05Challenges include finding viable DNA samples, the massive cost of the project, and potential ecological impacts
• 06The technology developed for mammoth cloning could have applications for saving currently endangered species
• ▶Introduction to mammoth de-extinction projects and current technology0:00:00
• ▶Explanation of how scientists extract and sequence ancient DNA from frozen remains0:15:30
• ▶Discussion of using mammoths to restore Arctic ecosystems and combat climate change0:32:45
• ▶Ethical debate about whether humans should resurrect extinct species0:48:20
• ▶Overview of practical challenges, costs, and timeline for actual mammoth cloning1:05:00

The Show

Joe sits down with Forrest Galante to explore one of the wildest frontiers in modern science: bringing back woolly mammoths from extinction. This isn't science fiction anymore. Companies are actually working on it right now, and the conversation dives deep into how they're attempting to pull off what seemed impossible just a few years ago.

The basic concept is straightforward but the execution is bonkers. Scientists extract DNA from frozen mammoth remains preserved in Siberian permafrost, then use CRISPR and other genetic engineering tools to fill in the gaps where DNA is degraded or missing. They use modern elephant DNA as the template to complete the mammoth genome. It's like having an ancient puzzle with missing pieces and using a similar but slightly different puzzle as a reference to figure out what goes where.

What makes this conversation really interesting is the "why should we" question underneath the "how can we" technical discussion. Galante explains that restoring mammoths could actually help with climate change. Mammoth steppe grasslands used to cover vast areas of the Arctic, and the theory is that reintroducing megafauna could help restore those ecosystems. Fewer trees means less dark surface absorbing heat. It sounds crazy but there's legit science behind it.

The ethical minefield is massive though. Should we be bringing back animals that nature already eliminated? What if the cloned mammoths don't behave like real mammoths because they're raised by elephants? How do we test if this actually works without potentially creating suffering? Galante doesn't shy away from these questions, and the conversation gets into the real responsibility scientists have when they're playing with extinction and resurrection.

The practical challenges are enormous too. Finding DNA samples preserved well enough to work with is incredibly difficult. The cost is astronomical. Getting regulatory approval and international cooperation across countries that control the permafrost regions is a nightmare. But the momentum is there. Technology is advancing faster than people realize, and within the next decade or two, we might actually see mammoths walking the Earth again.

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