Latest news with #PeterJackson
New York Post
a day ago
- Science
- New York Post
12-foot bird has been gone for 600 years — now scientists want to ‘de-extinct' it
The real big bird returns. A company that claims to have resurrected the dire wolf has unveiled plans to bring back the moa, a long-extinct bird that once towered over people. The company, Colossal Biosciences, claimed it had joined forces with acclaimed 'Lord Of The Rings' director Sir Peter Jackson to de-extinct the ancient avian, the largest species of which stood 12-feet tall and weighed more than 500 pounds, Time reported. This flightless bird reportedly inhabited New Zealand until getting hunted to extinction by Māori settlers around 600 years ago, Livescience reported. Coordinating the ambitious de-extinction campaign is the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre, between the main Māori tribe (iwi) on NZ's South Island and the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. 3 An upland moa skeleton. 'There's a lot of science still to be done – but we can start looking forward to the day when birds like the moa or the huia (an extinct NZ bird with a curved bill) are rescued from the darkness of extinction,' said Sir Peter Jackson. 'Even the journey will bring incredible insights about the history of this land and enrich discussions as to the potential nature of our future here.' Museum of New Zealand 'Some of those iconic species that feature in our tribal mythology, our storytelling, are very near and dear to us,' explained Ngāi Tahu archaeologist Kyle Davis, who is collaborating on the moa's second coming. 'Participation in scientific research, species management, and conservation has been a large part of our activities.' Jackson, an investor in Colossal who helped bring the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre into the fold, explained that the proposed de-extinction is part of efforts to ensure that 'some of the most critically endangered species in Aotearoa/New Zealand are protected for future generations.' Unfortunately, resurrecting the moa will be quite a bit more difficult than bringing his fantasy creatures to life on the big screen. Experts analogized the process to that of the dire wolf, a long-dead species of canid that scientists resurrected by harvesting DNA from fossil specimens and then filling in the genetic gap with a gray wolf genome — like how frog DNA was used to engineer dinosaurs in 'Jurassic Park.' Bringing back the moa is decidedly more challenging as the moa is far more removed from its closest living relatives, emus and a chicken-like bird called the tinamou, than the dire wolf is from the gray wolf. Whereas dire wolves only split from modern wolf-like canids — the group that includes gray wolves — around 5.7 million years ago, the common ancestor of the moa and tinamou lived 58 million years ago, while the moa and emu predecessor lived 65 million years ago. During their 'time apart,' the moa developed a lot of unique traits that are difficult to duplicate. 3 Colossal Biosciences is currently working to resurrect the woolly mammoth as well. Courtesy of Colossal To achieve this feat of genetic engineering, the team plans to aims to sequence and reconstruct the genomes of all nine extinct moa species, while also sequencing high-quality genomes of their aforementioned relatives. The team will then use precursors to sperm and egg cells to Frankenstein a 'surrogate bird' from living species and then genetically alter it to resemble a moa. They plan to introduce the edited calls into the embryonic tinamou or emu inside an egg, after which the cells will hopefully migrate to the embryo's gonads, changing them so that the females produce eggs and the males produce moa sperm. In theory, that hatchling will then grow up, mate and produce moa chicks. As of yet, the team is still in the process of selecting said surrogate, although the emu's size — they can grow up to 6 feet 2 inches tall — makes it a more suitable surrogate than the comparatively runty tinamou, per the researchers. 3 Colossal Biosciences 'brought back' dire wolves using a primordial stew with gray wolf DNA. Colossal Biosciences / Business Wire Unfortunately, the moa egg is also a lot bigger than an emu egg, so this could present another challenge if they were to use the latter as the incubation chamber in which to hatch the hybrid bird. 'A South Island giant moa egg will not fit inside an emu surrogate, so Colossal will have to develop artificial surrogate egg technology,' said Nic Rawlence, director of the Otago Palaeogenetics Lab at the University of Otago in New Zealand and a critic of the moa plan. Colossal's chief science officer, Beth Shapiro explained that they're exploring 'different strategies for artificial egg incubation, which will have application both for moa de-extinction and bird conservation work.' Of course, there are several criticisms of the project that were directed at prior resurrection campaigns as well. Critics of the dire wolf project claimed that their so-called dire wolf was still genetically a gray wolf with increased size and a white coat. Rawlence even believes that 'genetically engineering specific genes in an emu to match a moa could have dire developmental consequences.' Beth Shapiro told Live Science that animal welfare was a priority, explaining, 'We thoroughly evaluate health risks of any proposed edit before selecting them for our final list of edits.' Jackson believes the project has exciting potential when it comes to reviving lost species. 'There's a lot of science still to be done – but we can start looking forward to the day when birds like the moa or the huia (an extinct NZ bird with a curved bill) are rescued from the darkness of extinction,' he said. 'Even the journey will bring incredible insights about the history of this land and enrich discussions as to the potential nature of our future here.' The moa isn't the only animal Colossal plans to add to its menagerie of long-dead creatures. The biotech firm has also targeted the woolly mammoth for de-extinction — and is a step closer to its goal after engineering a critter called the woolly mouse.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Extinct giant bird being brought back to life
(NewsNation) — The group that resurrected the dire wolf species is looking to reestablish a giant bird, native to New Zealand, with the backing of legendary filmmaker Peter Jackson. The moa bird, which has been extinct for 600 years, could make a return to the world. The herbivore weighed 500 pounds and stood about 12 to 13 feet tall. The flightless bird was sacred to the Maori people, the native populace of New Zealand. According to their oral traditions, they were a largely docile bird. According to a study in Quaternary Science Reviews, they became extinct due to overhunting by humans. 'Peter Jackson was really excited about the work that we're doing. He knew we were working on the mammoth, the Tasmanian tiger, and then the dodo, and he was very upset that we were not working on the moa,' Ben Lamm, who founded The Colossal Foundation, told 'Elizabeth Vargas Reports.' Ghislaine Maxwell should testify before Congress: Dershowitz 'If we can ever bring back species that we as mankind had a role in their extinction, while also building technologies to help conservation, (we can) help to return something that's sacred, back to the Maori people, the indigenous people of New Zealand, all while kind of inspiring kids. It kind of checked all of the boxes,' he added. Lamm noted that Jackson 'offered to accelerate the efforts with funding.' The moa birds will be reintroduced into areas on the South Island of New Zealand allocated by the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre. Lamm added that the moa birds will have the capacity to reproduce with themselves thanks to engineered additional genetic diversity that allows previously extinct animal populations to reproduce. 'Our goal is to build sustainable populations with enough genetic diversity that they can thrive on their own.' The foundation 'doesn't have to make more for New Zealand, they can actually just build up their own flock over time,' he said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Irish Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Flutter deal with Native Americans in California may get Murdoch off reservation
For Flutter chief executive Peter Jackson , the Californian dream remains just that. Seven years after the US supreme court struck down a federal law banning sports gambling, 30 states, plus Washington DC and Puerto Rico, have legalised online betting on sports – driving the spectacular growth of FanDuel , in which Flutter moved to buy a controlling stake just days after the 2018 ruling. But after a series of straight quarters of more than 20 per cent handle growth – covering the total amount wagered by betters – in Flutter's sportsbook revenue in the US, it had slowed to 8 per cent in the first three months of this year as the pace of states legalising the activity slowed. Just one state is so far on track to allow online sports betting to go live in 2025: Missouri, which has an adult population of 4.7 million. READ MORE Questions remain about the path of betting reform in the three most populous states, California , Texas and Florida. California, which recently surpassed Japan to become the world's fourth-largest economy, with an estimated adult population of about 31 million, is the big one. It is also a state where FanDuel and smaller rival DraftKings made powerful enemies when they backed an initiative to legalise digital sports betting three years ago. An overwhelming majority of Californian voters rejected the plan in late 2022, after powerful Native American tribes, who have a near-monopoly on casino-style gambling, reportedly spent more than $200 million (€172 million) campaigning against the proposal. The gambling companies have since adopted a different tack, with FanDuel president Christian Genetski and DraftKings chief executive Jason Robins making an olive-branch appearance at the annual Western Indian Gaming Tradeshow and Convention in San Diego in late March. FanDuel has a 43 per cent share of the US market. 'If I reflect on 2022, It was a well-intentioned but uninformed and misguided attempt,' Genetski said in a panel discussion chaired by the head of the Californian Nations Indian Gaming Association. 'It was definitely a spectacular failure on our part. It wasn't the right plan or the right time. So, we looked in the mirror and said, 'It was a failure, what will we do?'' [ Up to 800,000 Betfair and Paddy Power customers hit by data breach Opens in new window ] Subsequent reports suggested that the tribes are looking for the lion's share of annual revenues from any future sports betting in the golden state. Investment bank Jefferies' analysts recently estimated the potential Californian gross online sports betting revenues at $4 billion – double that of New York, the current largest market. 'Even under a market structure with as low as 30 per cent revenue share to operators, California would still be a top three state and generate the same [gross revenues] as New Jersey,' it said. The slowdown in the US growth handle in recent quarters has been partly down to FanDuel and smaller peers spending less on promotional free bets, a dip in National Basketball Association viewership, and broader economic concerns influencing consumer betting habits. But the dearth of state launches is the main factor. Legislating to open up online sports betting in Texas and Florida – where governor Ron DeSantis struck a deal in 2021 to give the local Seminole tribe a monopoly on this activity – is even further behind California. To be sure, this hasn't got in the way of Flutter, which moved its main listing to New York in May 2024 , post a 50 per cent share surge over the past year, to give the group a market value of almost $54 billion. This has been helped by strong growth in FanDuel's igaming business, which has a 27 per cent US market share with digital casino games including blackjack and roulette. Still, this business accounts for only about 30 per cent of FanDuel's revenues. JP Morgan analysts reckon that FanDuel's net gaming revenue grew 19 per cent in the second quarter to $1.82 billion – driven by 38 per cent growth in igaming as sports betting picked up to 14 per cent. They see the international business – including Paddy Power and Betfair in Ireland and the UK – posting 3.5 per cent organic growth. The group's recent purchases of Italy's third-largest online gambling company Snaitech for $2.6 billion (completed in April) and Brazilian betting company NSX Group for $350 million cash (finalised in June) will have helped. [ Flutter loses out to rival in race to run Italy's main lotto franchise Opens in new window ] While Flutter shares dipped briefly in late May when it narrowly missed out in a race to operate Italy's main lottery to market incumbent International Game Technology's (IGT) bid of €2.23 billion for the nine-year gig, analysts have broadly welcomed the development amid a belief that IGT may have overpaid. IGT has since rebranded as Brightstar Lottery. The stock has also been underpinned by speculation that Flutter will end up joining the S&P 500 stock market index in New York, the world's most followed market benchmark by equity investors, before CRH, which also moved its main listing to the Big Apple in recent years. Analysts, too, have welcomed Flutter taking full ownership of FanDuel last week by buying out Boyd Gaming's 5 per cent stake in a deal that puts a value on the business of about $31 billion. The focus has now turned to the option that nonagenarian Rupert Murdoch's Fox Corporation has to buy an almost 19 per cent stake in FanDuel. The option runs to 2030. It would currently cost Fox $4.5 billion to trigger and is almost $1.4 billion in the money, based off the $31 billion valuation. Fox chief executive Lachlan Murdoch put Flutter on notice last autumn that he wants to trigger the stake purchase sooner rather than later – subject to Fox securing a necessary gaming licence. It could get awkward. Flutter is no longer in the circle of Fox and friends – after their high-profile battle a few years ago on exercise price of the option. Fox, meanwhile, would end up with an illiquid stake in FanDuel. And no control. A neater solution for everyone would be for Flutter to buy Fox out. But would the Murdochs settle along the lines of the valuation implied by the Boyd deal? Unlikely. Clarity on California, Texas and Florida will be key. That's not coming any time soon.
Straits Times
4 days ago
- Science
- Straits Times
Scientists launch effort to resurrect extinct giant flightless bird
Find out what's new on ST website and app. The South Island giant moa was the tallest bird which ever lived, growing up to 3.6m tall. SINGAPORE - At up to 3.6m tall, the South Island giant moa was the tallest bird that ever lived. It roamed New Zealand's South Island before becoming extinct around 600 years ago. Now, a team of scientists is trying to bring it back. This effort is led by Colossal Biosciences, a Texas-based biotech company, which on July 9 added the bird to the list of extinct animals it hopes to resurrect , by altering the genes of the giant moa's closest living relatives. Other animals on their list include the dodo, woolly mammoth and thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger. To resurrect the giant moa, Colossal is working with New Zealand's Ngāi Tahu Research Centre, which is housed within the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. The project is also backed by several high-profile investors, including Mr Peter Jackson, the New Zealand-born director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Mr Jackson has one of the largest private collections of moa bones, reported the Associated Press. Moas played an essential role in natural ecosystems, and for early ancestors of the indigenous Ngāi Tahu tribe in New Zealand. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 30% of aviation jobs could be redesigned due to AI, automation; $200m fund to support workers: CAAS Singapore HSA looking to get anti-vape cyber surveillance tool with AI capabilities Singapore Alleged Kpod peddler filmed trying to flee raid in Bishan charged with 6 offences Singapore NTU upholds zero grade for student who used AI in essay; panel found 14 false citations or data Singapore Jail for contraband cigarette syndicate member over conspiracy to give bribes to security officer Singapore Residents in South West District get help to improve employability, find career opportunities Life Kinokuniya opens third bookstore at Raffles City, weeks ahead of schedule Business DBS shares rally to a new record as STI clocks yet another high Professor Mike Stevens, the research centre's director, said in Colossal's press statement: 'During the 14th and 15th centuries, moa provided meat for sustenance, and bones and feathers for tools and decoration. 'And the loss of moa, through over-harvesting and habitat modification, was a salutary lesson as to the New Zealand archipelago's 'fragile plenty'.' New Zealand is a biodiversity hotspot due to its isolation from the rest of the world and natural history, with a high proportion of endemic species - or species found only in a single defined geographic location - Colossal added in a media statement. 'Colossal Biosciences has committed a large investment to New Zealand to build biotechnology within and protect its unique biological heritage, including flora and fauna found nowhere else on Earth,' it said. But many scientists are sceptical of the ethics behind such costly 'de-extinction' efforts, which sap funds that could otherwise be used to conserve currently endangered species. Setting out to revive extinct species may be 'intellectually interesting, but really should be a low priority,' Dr Scott MacDougall-Shackleton told the CNN. 'If we are concerned about island bird conservation there are hundreds of threatened and critically endangered species in New Zealand, Hawaii and other Pacific islands that need conservation resources more urgently,' added the co-founder and director of the Advanced Facility for Avian Research at Western University in Canada. Whether or not 'de-extinction' is even possible is also a contentious issue among members of the scientific community. In April 2025, Colossal made the news for announcing the birth of three pups of the dire wolf - an extinct canine predator - which they had birthed by partially altering the genome of its closest modern-day relative, the grey wolf. 'Is de-extinction possible? No, it is not possible. What you could potentially do - we'll see - is create a genetically modified organism that may contain some appearance traits that are linked to a previously extinct species based on what we think they were like,' Dr Tori Herridge, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Sheffield, told The Guardian.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Why giant moa — a bird that once towered over humans — are even harder to de-extinct than dire wolves
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. A biotech company that claims to have brought dire wolves back from extinction has announced plans to resurrect giant extinct birds called moa. However, experts say that dire wolves were never truly resurrected, and that moa will be even harder to de-extinct. Earlier this month, Texas-based Colossal Biosciences said it had teamed up with filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson and Indigenous partners to bring back the 12-foot-tall (3.6 meter) South Island giant moa (Dinornis robustus) and other moa species. These flightless birds roamed New Zealand until they were hunted to extinction by early Māori settlers around 600 years ago. The new project will be coordinated by the Ngāi Tahu Research Centre, a joint venture between the main Māori tribe (iwi) on the South Island of New Zealand and the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. It's a multifaceted project that aims to combine traditional Māori knowledge, wildlife conservation and genetic engineering-driven de-extinction. However, the project has already come under fire. Critics have highlighted that some Māori iwi oppose de-extinction, while several scientists have argued that genetically modifying living animals can't bring back lost species. The scientific criticism is similar to the commentary after Colossal unveiled its "dire wolves" — a species that went extinct more than 10,000 years ago. Colossal's "dire wolves" are genetically modified gray wolves (Canis lupus) with 20 gene edits. The company claims they are dire wolves (Aenocyon dirus) because they have some observable traits identified in the dire wolf genome, such as increased size and a white coat. However, genetically, they're still mostly gray wolves. The same will be true for the living animal Colossal modifies for the moa project — but for moa, it's even more complicated. Related: T. rex researchers eviscerate 'misleading' dinosaur leather announcement Moa's closest living relatives are a group of South American birds called tinamous. The largest tinamou species is smaller than most domestic chickens, so is minuscule compared to South Island giant moa. Australia's emus (Dromaius novaehollandiae) are the next closest relative, but while these large flightless birds are physically more similar to giant moa, they're still not as big, growing to an average of 5.7 feet (1.75 m) tall. Both of these living relatives also separated from moa a long time ago. "The common ancestor of the moa and tinamou lived 58 million years ago, while the common ancestor of moa and emu lived 65 million years ago," Nic Rawlence, director of the Otago Palaeogenetics Lab at the University of Otago in New Zealand and a critic of the moa plan, told Live Science in an email. "That's a lot of evolutionary time." To put that in context, dire wolves only split from modern wolf-like canids — the group that includes gray wolves — around 5.7 million years ago (or even more recently at 4.5 million years ago, according to a recent preprint involving some of Colossal's scientists). That means moa had a lot more time to evolve unique traits. Image 1 of 3 Image 2 of 3 Image 3 of 3 Rawlence explained that moa and their closest living relatives descended from a group of small flying birds called lithornids. These animals lived around the world and gave rise to different groups that independently lost the ability to fly. As Rawlence puts it, these flightless birds were "filling the job vacancies in the ecosystem left by the extinction of the dinosaurs." Moa and emu lost flight through a process called convergent evolution, whereby different organisms evolve similar traits. That means, according to Rawlence, that the physiological and developmental mechanisms behind their body plans evolved independently, potentially via different genetic routes, which poses a challenge when it comes to bringing moa back. "Genetically engineering specific genes in an emu to match a moa could have dire developmental consequences given this independent and convergent evolutionary history," Rawlence said. Live Science asked Colossal whether there were any health risks associated with genetically engineering living animals to be more like extinct animals. Colossal's chief science officer, Beth Shapiro, told Live Science that the company was certified by the American Humane Society and that animal welfare was a priority in their work. "We thoroughly evaluate health risks of any proposed edit before selecting them for our final list of edits," Shapiro said in an email. Colossal's moa de-extinction plan Before Colossal begins creating its modern-day moa, the company aims to sequence and rebuild the genomes of all nine extinct moa species, while also sequencing high-quality genomes of their closest living relatives. This will allow Colossal to identify the changes that led to the moa's unique traits, including their large body size and lack of wings, according to Colossal's website. The researchers will then use primordial germ cells, the precursors of sperm or egg cells, from living species to "build a surrogate bird" and make genetic changes to create birds with moa traits. The company needs both male and female surrogates to carry the sperm and egg of their "moa," to then produce the genetically modified offspring. Colossal's website states that emus' larger size makes them a more suitable surrogate than tinamous. However, details on this part of the process are limited. Shapiro told Live Science that they were "still in the process of selecting the surrogate species for moa de-extinction." Emus lay large green eggs, around 5 inches (12 cm) long and 3.5 inches (9 cm) wide. Still, that's nothing compared to a South Island giant moa egg, which were 9.5 inches (24 cm) by 7 inches (17.8 cm). RELATED STORIES —'We didn't know they were going to be this cute': Scientists unveil genetically engineered 'woolly mice' —Colossal's de-extinction campaign is built on a semantic house of cards with shoddy foundations — and the consequences are dire —Dodos were fast and powerful, not slow and inept, definitive preserved specimen suggests "A South Island giant moa egg will not fit inside an emu surrogate, so Colossal will have to develop artificial surrogate egg technology," Rawlence said. Colossal briefly mentioned artificial eggs during its moa announcement, but didn't provide details on this part of the process. Live Science asked Colossal whether they could explain how Colossal will hatch a South Island giant moa. "Our exogenous development team is exploring different strategies for artificial egg incubation, which will have application both for moa de-extinction and bird conservation work," Shapiro said in an email.
