Today on Modern Notion Daily we talk to Beth Shapiro, author of How to Clone a Mammoth: The Science of De-Extinction (Princeton University Press, April 2015). Shapiro says the we wont ever be able to bring back an exact clone of a Dodo or a Woolly Mammoth, but we could use their ancient DNA to bolster current species on Planet Earth. Contributing editor Erin Blakemore talks about Penelope Ashe, aka 25 Newsday reporters who wrote a lurid novel in the 1960s. Plus, contributing editor Mark Hay clues us in on studies about endangered species, and we hear the story of Suicide Forest in Japan.

Music this hour:

Step On by Jahzzar, from the album Tumbling Dishes Like Old-Mans Wishes

“Elle va au Japon” by Nic Bommarito, from the album A Quiet Age

Jason Alberts story on sailing is a production of the STEM Story Project, made possible with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and distributed by PRX, the Public Radio Exchange.