Colossal Biosciences, a company based in Dallas, recently received a $200 million investment to work on a project that might remind a lot of us of the “Jurassic Park” film franchise, though it is a bit different.
Instead of harvesting long-lost DNA like they do in those films, Colossal is planning to take living species and genetically engineer traits of the extinct animals into them. The company’s plans are moving forward faster than you might think, with the woolly mammoth, Tasmanian tiger and dodo bird first on the list.
“There’s some mammoth DNA – enough that they think they can use… this technique that’s become extremely popular, gene editing, to mix in the some of the mammoth genes with DNA from an Asian elephant,” explained science journalist Faye Flam, who joined Something Offbeat to discuss her research into the project. “Asian elephants are the closest living relatives of the wooly mammoth.”
Listen to the full episode to find out if you might be able to see a woolly mammoth (sort of) stomping around sometime soon.
Each week, “Something Offbeat” takes a deeper look at an unusual headline. If you have suggestions for stories the podcast should cover, send them to us at somethingoffbeat@audacy.com.