What is de-extinction?

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 geneticist 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 eding closer towards making that a reality. As of March 2022, Colossal announced that it had raised a total of $75M for the project.

Is it really possible to revive extinct animal species? Why would we want to bring extinct species back to life? How is the idea of de-extinction being received by the scientific community? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions!

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A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance.

First broadcast: 10/05/2022

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