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‘De-extinction' isn't real, but the conservation questions it raises are

‘De-extinction' isn't real, but the conservation questions it raises are

This story was originally published by High Country News and appears here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration
What was the dire wolf? Like many species lost before living memory and known only from remains, the 1854 discovery of a jawbone from this extinct North American predator was more suggestion than revelation. 'Certain naturalists may regard the fossil as an indication of a variety only of the Canis lupus,' or gray wolf, wrote paleontologist Joseph Leidy, describing what he tentatively called Canis primaevus. ' (Of) the correctness of such a view,' he added, 'I shall not attempt to decide.'
In early April, 169 years after Leidy's cautious account, the venture-capital-funded startup Colossal Biosciences showed no such hesitation in announcing the species' purported resurrection in its laboratory. 'For the first time in human history, (we have) successfully restored a once-eradicated species through the science of de-extinction,' its website boasted. The company had used gene-editing technology to create three wolf pups that, according to its scientists, recreate some of the physical characteristics of the long-gone species.
After an initial flurry of favorable press, the skeptics weighed in. Biologists argued that a handful of genetic changes to a cloned gray wolf — a species from which the dire wolf diverged 5 million years ago — did not add up to 'de-exinction.' 'The three animals produced by Colossal are not dire wolves. Nor are they proxies of the dire wolf,' the members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Canid Specialist Group concluded. Even if the company had recreated something much closer to the species, said critics, the production of a handful of individuals destined for life in captivity would be far from an ecologically meaningful accomplishment. Can an animal whose prey, habitat and climate no longer exist ever really flourish again?
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum — who, as South Dakota governor, oversaw a $3 million grant to Colossal — praised the company, however, and used its dubious success to attack the Endangered Species Act. 'Since the dawn of our nation, it has been innovation — not regulation — that has spawned American greatness,' Burgum posted on X. '(De-extinction) can serve as a bedrock for modern species conservation.'
Burgum's interest comes at a perilous time for the Endangered Species Act, which is currently in the crosshairs of the second Trump administration. A January executive order sought to resurrect the 'God Squad,' a committee empowered to overrule the law when species protections prevent development. More recently, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration proposed redefining the law's definition of 'harm' to species so that it no longer includes habitat loss. The impact on vulnerable species and ecosystems remains uncertain. What is clearer is that gene editing and Colossal's so-called de-extinction technology pose new ethical and philosophical challenges to one of our bedrock environmental laws.
What we call 'species' are an attempt to fit the complex, untidy reality of nature into convenient categories, and biologists frequently use new data (or new interpretations of existing data) to redefine where one species ends and another begins. Recognizing this, the Endangered Species Act was originally written to apply to 'any distinct population segment of any species of vertebrate fish or wildlife which interbreeds when mature,' intentionally vague language meant to allow agency scientists and managers to adapt to evolving science.
Species definitions become even more complicated when individuals from two such 'distinct population segments' interbreed and produce hybrids. Hybrids are natural phenomena, but if their interbreeding continues unchecked, they can become threats to the integrity of their parent species. Unsurprisingly, Fish and Wildlife has struggled to clarify if and how the Endangered Species Act applies to hybrids, and its policies remain ambiguous.
In a future where gene editing is increasingly prominent in biodiversity conservation — and companies like Colossal might create chimeric organisms with traits of endangered species but no direct connection with their inspiration — the risks of such ambiguity are growing. Would the release of a tankful of desert pupfish lookalikes meet the recovery goals for the species, one of the world's most endangered fish? Would the propagation of transgenic, disease-resistant whitebark pines counteract the loss of their original lineage to the blister rust that now plagues the species? For now, the Endangered Species Act and the policies that shape its interpretation have little to say on the subject.
These questions are difficult because they are as much philosophical as biological and legal. There is something instructive in Joseph Leidy's uncertainty: The messiness of biological diversity can be readily exploited by bad-faith actors like Burgum, but the processes responsible for it cannot be so easily faked. Species, however they are defined, are the dynamic products of biological evolution, rooted in landscapes and ecological communities. In a future where agencies can once again work to strengthen rather than weaken the Endangered Species Act, policies on hybrid and transgenic organisms should prioritize this fundamental generative force — not by the outright rejection of genetic modification as a conservation tool but by recognizing the central importance of unbroken chains of ancestry and kinship, produced over centuries and millennia by self-willed organisms. By this standard, Colossal's dire wolf project is a failure.

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Brownstein: Montreal producer takes deep dive in documentary Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster
Brownstein: Montreal producer takes deep dive in documentary Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster

Montreal Gazette

time5 days ago

  • Montreal Gazette

Brownstein: Montreal producer takes deep dive in documentary Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster

By The documentary begins intriguingly enough: 'Where do you want to go in the ocean? What is the most known site in the ocean? It's clearly the Titanic.' The speaker is well-heeled, maverick American inventor Stockton Rush, whose mission it was to take paying passengers 3,800 metres into the Atlantic Ocean in his mini-sub to scope the ruins of the Titanic luxury liner that sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912 after striking an iceberg 600 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland. More than 1,500 passengers died in that disaster. Five died, including Rush, when his submersible the Titan imploded on its way down to the Titanic wreck on June 18, 2023. The documentary Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster takes a deep and disturbing plunge into the apparent arrogance of Titan mastermind Rush, the co-founder and CEO of the OceanGate undersea exploration company. The doc, co-produced by Montreal GalaFilm boss Arnie Gelbart and directed and co-scripted by acclaimed British director Pamela Gordon, begins streaming Friday on CBC Gem. It will also be broadcast on CBC Television June 20. The production team has done a thorough job in bringing this tragedy into fuller focus, aided and abetted by insightful interviews, rare footage of the Titan's final voyage and other failed dives plus access to the U.S. Coast Guard's investigation. Experts interviewed had misgivings about the Titan's structure, particularly its carbon-fibre hull, even if Rush had pulled off some dives prior to its final descent. There were other ominous warning signs, like seeping water damage and cracking engine sounds. Mutters one skeptic: 'Everyone stepping on board the Titan was risking their life.' The feeling was that Rush was 'hell-bent' on taking the Titan to dangerous new lows under the ocean, someone seeking to 'democratize deep-sea exploration.' Rush was an engineer who initially dreamed of becoming an astronaut. But when it became apparent he was never going to make it to 'Jupiter or Mars,' he turned his sights in the opposite direction. He concluded that would require a 'special sub.' Rush had the money, vision and drive to do so. He was a patrician whose roots went way back, with two of his ancestors having signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence. History, as is often the case, repeats itself here. How's this for cruel irony? Rush's wife's great-great-grandparents, owners of the fabled Macy's department-store chain, perished on the Titanic. They were rumoured to have been the richest passengers aboard. Christine Dawood is understandably livid. Among the five who died aboard the imploded Titan were her billionaire British-Pakistani husband, Shahzada, 48, and son Suleman, 19. She blames 'ego and arrogance' for their deaths. Gelbart has long been consumed by the Titanic and Titan. He brings to the documentary a wealth of factoids about both as well as Rush's participation. 'Rush had done some 88 dives prior to his last, but not all successful ones,' Gelbart says in a phone interview. 'It went down successfully only six times.' Gelbart had been involved since 2017 when Rush had come up with a working model of the Titan, which he had initially tested in the Bahamas. Then ensued a lot of correspondence with Rush, who was to move to his company's home in Everett, Wash. before heading to his last base in St. John's. 'He was looking for publicity, and I first wanted to make an Imax film, The Return to Titanic. What he was building for us was a remote camera that would go inside the hold of the Titanic, full of cars and furniture and other stuff that no one had seen since 1912.' Gelbart's project was initially to be a four-part series, retelling the Titanic story but using Rush's submersible to examine what was left of it, including its interior. 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Major Cereal Crops Fall Behind Because of Climate Change, Study Shows
Major Cereal Crops Fall Behind Because of Climate Change, Study Shows

Canada Standard

time6 days ago

  • Canada Standard

Major Cereal Crops Fall Behind Because of Climate Change, Study Shows

Climate change has already held back global yields of wheat, maize, and barley by as much as 13% over the past 50 years-compared to what they would have been in a world without warming-although Canada may have dodged the worst effects so far, a new Stanford University study finds. The authors revisit the question of how climate change affects agriculture, especially in major production regions. They say their research draws attention to the dramatic shifts farmers are facing, as well as the overall effectiveness of climate models in projecting these shifts. They used 50 years of data comparing actual yields to what climate models predicted. Overall, global yields of wheat, maize, and barley were found to be 10%, 4%, and 13% lower than they would have been without climate change. And while past research has indicated that some climate outcomes might increase crop production, given the higher concentrations of carbon dioxide and longer growing seasons, "losses likely exceeded those benefits," the authors write. View our latest digests That wasn't true across the board. For soybeans and rice, "carbon dioxide benefits likely exceeded climate-related losses." The researchers determined these connections using a regression model that compared yield anomalies with anomalies of weather, explained lead author David Loebell, an earth system science professor at Stanford. This approach allowed the researchers to suggest that the yield losses were caused by climate change-rather than just correlated with them-as long as it is accepted that yield anomalies do not cause weather anomalies and that no unobserved factor is driving both sets of changes. Loebell told The Energy Mix the study deliberately didn't use a trend analysis, which focuses on changes of one variable over time, because there are so many other factors correlated over time with yield and weather. "The regression models are used to isolate the effect of weather on yield," he said. "Then these models can be used to estimate what would have occurred without the trends." Yield losses were mostly in line with what models would have predicted, but with two main exceptions. For one, North American crop production in Canada and the United States was less affected than in other regions of the world, and also less than what models show. The study chalks this up to a "warming hole" that has spared the continent from more significant climate impacts, though researchers are unclear about why the phenomenon exists, or how long it will persist. Secondly, increases in regional vapour pressure deficits (VPD), the difference between the amount of moisture that's actually in the air and the amount of moisture that air could hold at saturation, have been consistently underrepresented in climate models. VPD can be a main driver of stress on plants and high deficits can reduce growth. The findings have implications for both climate research and agriculture adaptation. The revealed yield changes indicate how climate change is likely to affect food production systems. The study also sheds light on how models can be improved, and helps quantify the damage or benefits of historical emissions, supporting efforts to develop financial mechanisms for compensating affected communities. The research also informs breeding and adaptation efforts by tracking "the relative speed with which specific climate stresses are changing, or certain crops or regions are being affected." Source: The Energy Mix

Niède Guidon, the archaeologist who discovered hundreds of cave paintings in Brazil, dies at 92
Niède Guidon, the archaeologist who discovered hundreds of cave paintings in Brazil, dies at 92

Winnipeg Free Press

time6 days ago

  • Winnipeg Free Press

Niède Guidon, the archaeologist who discovered hundreds of cave paintings in Brazil, dies at 92

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Niède Guidon, the Brazilian archaeologist known for discovering hundreds of prehistoric cave paintings in northeastern Brazil and for her research challenging theories of ancient human presence in the Americas, died Wednesday at 92, the Serra da Capivara National Park announced. Guidon first documented the red ocher cave paintings in the semi-arid state of Piaui in the 1970s. These ancient artworks, made with natural pigments such as iron oxides and charcoal, depict deer and capybaras, but also scenes of everyday life including hunting, childbirth, dancing and kissing. Guidon fought for the preservation of the area, leading to the establishment of the Serra da Capivara National Park in 1979. In 1991, UNESCO recognized the nearly 130,000-hectare park, with its sprawling valleys, mountains, and plains, as a world cultural heritage site. Guidon's discoveries shook traditional theories on when and how humans arrived on the American continent, according to a 2024 statement by Brazil's National Council for Scientific and Technological Development. It was previously believed that humans had reached the Americas approximately 13,000 years ago via the Bering Strait between Siberia and Alaska. Based on the exploration of archaeological sites in Piaui — which uncovered 15,000-year-old human bones, cave paintings estimated to be around 35,000 years old and evidence of fires dating back 48,000 years — Guidon argued that humans had arrived on the American continent from Africa via the sea, and much earlier than previously believed, the statement said. The Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation and the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage commended Guidon's contributions in a joint statement Wednesday. 'If Serra da Capivara is today recognized as one of the most important concentrations of archaeological sites in the world, with a profound impact on the debate and understanding of the history of human occupation of the Americas, it is above all thanks to Niède Guidon's vision and tireless defense of science and culture,' they said. 'Professor Niède is one of those unforgettable figures who have inscribed their name in our history,' Mauro Pires, president of the Chico Mendes Institute, was quoted as saying, describing her contribution to global archaeology as immeasurable. 'Brazilian science is saddened by the passing of Niède Guidon, who helped us understand the origins of man in the American continent,' Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in a statement. Guidon was born in the interior of Sao Paulo state in 1933. She graduated in Natural History from the University of Sao Paulo in 1959, before moving to France to pursue her studies. She completed her doctorate at Paris' Sorbonne University in 1975, after presenting a thesis on the cave paintings in Piaui state. Guidon went on to found the Foundation Museum of the American Man, a non-profit dedicated to the cultural and natural heritage of Serra da Capivara National Park, which she led between 1986 and 2019. 'For decades, she and her team fought to secure funding and infrastructure for the park, firmly standing against government neglect,' the nonprofit said on Wednesday, adding that her work was marked by 'passion, persistence, and a generous vision of science as a tool for social transformation.' In 2024, Brazil's National Council of Scientific and Technological Development asked Guidon about the obstacles she faced as a woman and a scientist. 'I never worried about people's opinions about me,' she said. 'I worked hard, created a very qualified team, and history was made.' ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at

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