Latest news with #TasmanianTiger
Int'l Business Times
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Int'l Business Times
Is Colossal Biosciences the Real-Life Jurassic Park?
Let's be honest. When you hear about a company actively working to bring back extinct animals using genetic science, your mind probably jumps to one place: Jurassic Park. The iconic gates, the majestic (and terrifying) dinosaurs, and the tagline that promised a walk with prehistory are permanently etched in our cultural DNA. And yes, on the surface, the celebrity loved Colossal Biosciences, with its sights set on the Woolly Mammoth, Tasmanian Tiger, and Dodo, shares that initial, breathtaking "wow" factor. As they did with the announcements of their Woolly Mouse and Dire Wolf, which dominated global headlines. They are, in essence, making the impossible possible, leveraging incredible scientific advancements to resurrect creatures lost to time. That shared ambition, the audacious reach into the past, is where the most compelling comparison begins and ends. While the premise might sound like a Spielberg pitch, the reality of Colossal Biosciences is entirely different. The crucial divergence lies in the "why." InGen built a theme park for profit and spectacle, with a famously cavalier attitude towards consequences. Colossal, however, frames its mission firmly within conservation and ecosystem restoration. Their goal isn't petting zoos filled with mammoths but reintroducing functionally equivalent animals to help repair damaged environments, like the Arctic tundra. The "how" of it is also vastly different. Jurassic Park relied on extracting complete dinosaur DNA from mosquitoes in ambera creative concept, but with significant scientific hurdles due to DNA degradation over millions of years. Colossal's approach involves using sophisticated gene-editing technology (like CRISPR) to introduce key traits of extinct animals into the genomes of their closest living relatives (for the mammoth, that's the Asian elephant). And then there are the animals themselves. While dinosaurs are undeniably awe-inspiring, Colossal focuses on species that disappeared much more recently, often due to human impact, and importantly, played vital roles in their ecosystems. Bringing back a mammoth isn't just a cool trick; it's theorized to help restore the Arctic grasslands and combat permafrost melt. Ultimately, while the ghost of Jurassic Park might linger in the public imagination whenever the topic of de-extinction is mentioned, Colossal Biosciences operates with a different purpose, a different scientific method, and a commitment to ethical considerations and transparency—a far cry from the profit-driven science run amok depicted on Isla Nublar. It taps into that same deep human fascination with lost worlds, but with its science fixed firmly on the future health of our planet.
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Are Eyeing Tasmanian Tigers for an Extinction Comeback — After Bringing Back Dire Wolves
U.S. biotech company Colossal Bioscience and the University of Melbourne are collaborating to revive a number of species lost to history Lead scientist Professor Andrew Pask revealed they've now mapped the genome of the Tasmanian tiger, an extinct marsupial that hasn't been seen in its natural habitat since 1936 The findings come after Colossal Bioscience announced earlier this year that they've essentially revived the extinct dire wolfScientists have successfully mapped the genome of the Tasmanian tiger, an extinct marsupial native to Australia that was last seen in its natural habitat in 1936. The discovery, a collaboration between U.S. biotech company Colossal Bioscience and the University of Melbourne, could have the Tasmanian Tiger revived in as little as eight years, 9 News reported. "We've been able to sequence the entire thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger genome now, absolutely every single bit of code from one end to the other of the genome," Lead scientist Professor Andrew Pask told the outlet. "We've been able to make the first really key stem cells that we can do this whole genetic engineering process that we need to recreate the thylacine," he added. Tasmanian Thylacine Advisory Committee chair Derwent Valley Mayor Michelle Dracoulis told 9 News, "The thylacine is not just an animal where I come from, it's part of the identity of the people that live there." The research announcement comes after Colossal Bioscience similarly managed to revive the extinct dire wolf earlier this year. The company unveiled three fluffy dire wolf pups, named Romulus, Remus and Khalessi. The species of wolves was notably featured in hit show Game of Thrones. The company uses gene editing to modify the traits of existing animals to the point that their DNA becomes, essentially, that of lost animals. 'Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies,' Colossal CEO and co-founder Ben Lamm said in a statement in April. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. George R. R. Martin, the writer behind the novels on which Game of Thrones was based, said in a statement at the time, 'Many people view dire wolves as mythical creatures that only exist in a fantasy world, but in reality, they have a rich history of contributing to the American ecosystem.' Both the dire wolves and Tasmanian tiger projects are a part of Colossal's de-extinction project, in which they are seeking to revive a number of species lost to history. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
10-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists Are Eyeing Tasmanian Tigers for an Extinction Comeback — After Bringing Back Dire Wolves
U.S. biotech company Colossal Bioscience and the University of Melbourne are collaborating to revive a number of species lost to history Lead scientist Professor Andrew Pask revealed they've now mapped the genome of the Tasmanian tiger, an extinct marsupial that hasn't been seen in its natural habitat since 1936 The findings come after Colossal Bioscience announced earlier this year that they've essentially revived the extinct dire wolfScientists have successfully mapped the genome of the Tasmanian tiger, an extinct marsupial native to Australia that was last seen in its natural habitat in 1936. The discovery, a collaboration between U.S. biotech company Colossal Bioscience and the University of Melbourne, could have the Tasmanian Tiger revived in as little as eight years, 9 News reported. "We've been able to sequence the entire thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger genome now, absolutely every single bit of code from one end to the other of the genome," Lead scientist Professor Andrew Pask told the outlet. "We've been able to make the first really key stem cells that we can do this whole genetic engineering process that we need to recreate the thylacine," he added. Tasmanian Thylacine Advisory Committee chair Derwent Valley Mayor Michelle Dracoulis told 9 News, "The thylacine is not just an animal where I come from, it's part of the identity of the people that live there." The research announcement comes after Colossal Bioscience similarly managed to revive the extinct dire wolf earlier this year. The company unveiled three fluffy dire wolf pups, named Romulus, Remus and Khalessi. The species of wolves was notably featured in hit show Game of Thrones. The company uses gene editing to modify the traits of existing animals to the point that their DNA becomes, essentially, that of lost animals. 'Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies,' Colossal CEO and co-founder Ben Lamm said in a statement in April. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. George R. R. Martin, the writer behind the novels on which Game of Thrones was based, said in a statement at the time, 'Many people view dire wolves as mythical creatures that only exist in a fantasy world, but in reality, they have a rich history of contributing to the American ecosystem.' Both the dire wolves and Tasmanian tiger projects are a part of Colossal's de-extinction project, in which they are seeking to revive a number of species lost to history. Read the original article on People
Boston Globe
08-04-2025
- Science
- Boston Globe
Scientists say they ‘brought back' dire wolves from extinction. Not exactly.
Other scientists, however, say that while Colossal's technological feats are impressive, the animals are not truly dire wolves and that the process has raised a raft of ethical issues. Advertisement 'The reality is we can't de-extinct extinct creatures because we can't use cloning — the DNA is just not well enough preserved,' said Nicolas Rawlence, an associate professor and director of the Palaeogenetics Laboratory at New Zealand's University of Otago. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up In a phone interview Tuesday, he said Colossal's pups are not dire wolves, but gray wolves that have had part of their genome changed to look like dire wolves. 'What Colossal is trying to do is genetically engineering animals to look like extinct creatures,' he said. 'They look cute and cuddly but … they're not a dire wolf.' Pontus Skoglund, leader of the Ancient Genomics Laboratory at Britain's Francis Crick Institute, said in a post on Bluesky that he was 'not necessarily against the initiative, but would a chimpanzee with 20 gene edits be human? … These individuals seem optimistically 1/100,000th dire wolf.' Advertisement Video posted on Colossal's social media showed two of the white fluffy pups, Romulus and Remus, practicing their howls. Romulus and Remus are the names of the mythical founders of Rome, who were raised by a wolf. Dire wolves will also be familiar to fans of 'Game of Thrones,' the hit television show, which features several of the animals. The name of the other pup, Khaleesi, appears in the 'Game of Thrones' TV and book series, which also depicts dire wolves. The 'dire wolf' pups are the latest headline-grabbing claim from the bioscience venture, founded by tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm and Harvard geneticist George Church, which says it is working to bring back some of the world's most famous extinct species. In its sights are the woolly mammoth, the dodo, and thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, which it aims to reengineer for the modern world. It has already created mice with hair like a woolly mammoth, and aims to conserve ancient traits as part of what it says are broader efforts to preserve the world's biodiversity. The company has been valued at $10.2 billion and raised $435 million in funding, including $200 million announced in January. Colossal's chief science officer, Beth Shapiro, said in a statement on the company's website that the birth of the pups shows 'we are one step closer to a world in which these tools are among those at our disposal to help species thrive in their rapidly changing habitats.' Shapiro previously told The Washington Post that the company was not trying to clone animals in the same way that had been done with Dolly the Sheep. 'We're not trying to make something that's identical to a dodo,' Shapiro said about the company's efforts to create a dodo-like bird using the DNA of a pigeon. 'We're trying to create something that's able to behave like a dodo would on that landscape in some key, functional way. So a large, flightless bird that wanders around and eats fruits and spreads the seeds,' she said. Advertisement Some scientists are dismissive of the claims and wary of the company's approach, even while expressing admiration for the technological accomplishments of its CRISPR gene-editing techniques, in which a piece of DNA can be snipped out from a genome and precisely replaced. In the wolves' case, scientists edited the gray wolf genome to approximate the size, color, and coat of a dire wolf, Rawlence said. 'There are about 19,000 genes in that genome. They looked at all the differences and said there are 20 key differences in 14 key genes that they could change to make a gray wolf look like a dire wolf,' he said. 'Their technology is amazing, but my personal view is it needs to be used to conserve the animals we've got left,' he said. That could include using money the company has raised to manage existing endangered species, or reintroduce genetic diversity among existing species to help them adapt to climate change or diseases. He said trying to recreate the characteristics of extinct animals provides no incentive to conserve species in the first place, and raises concerns about where and how the animals will live. 'Is there even going to be the habitat? How are you going to deal with increased human-wolf conflict? What's going to happen when your genetically engineered gray wolves hybridize with other gray wolves?' he said. Advertisement He also raised concerns about how a species could survive with just three members and said 'at least 500 individuals' would be needed to ensure a genetically diverse population. He also raised ethical concerns: Will extinction companies trademark these creatures? Who owns them? These are all discussions we need to have, he said. Colossal did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning.
Washington Post
08-04-2025
- Science
- Washington Post
Scientists say they ‘brought back' dire wolves from extinction. Not exactly.
For over 2 million years, dire wolves roamed present day North America until their extinction around 10,000 B.C. On Monday, a Dallas-based bioscience firm said it had brought the species back to life in the form of three pups, claiming to have 'successfully restored a once-eradicated species through the science of de-extinction' in a remarkable statement on its website. The team at Colossal said the pups — named Khaleesi, Romulus and Remus, and ranging in age from 3 to 6 months old — were created using a combination of gene-editing techniques and ancient DNA found in fossils from between 11,500 and 72,000 years ago. Other scientists, however, say that while Colossal's technological feats are impressive, the animals are not truly dire wolves — and that the process has raised a raft of ethical issues. 'The reality is we can't de-extinct extinct creatures because we can't use cloning — the DNA is just not well enough preserved,' said Nic Rawlence, an associate professor and director of the Palaeogenetics Laboratory at New Zealand's University of Otago. In a phone interview Tuesday, he said Colossal's pups are not dire wolves, but gray wolves that have had part of their genome changed to look like dire wolves. 'What Colossal is trying to do is genetically engineering animals to look like extinct creatures,' he said. 'They look cute and cuddly but … they're not a dire wolf.' Pontus Skoglund, leader of the Ancient Genomics Laboratory at Britain's Francis Crick Institute, said in a post on Bluesky that he was 'not necessarily against the initiative, but would a chimpanzee with 20 gene edits be human? … These individuals seem optimistically 1/100,000th dire wolf.' Video posted on Colossal's social media showed two of the white fluffy pups, Romulus and Remus, practicing their howls. Romulus and Remus are the names of the mythical founders of Rome, who were raised by a wolf. Dire wolves will also be familiar to fans of 'Game of Thrones,' the hit television show, which features several of the animals. The name of the other pup, Khaleesi, appears in the 'Game of Thrones' TV and book series, which also depicts dire wolves. The 'dire wolf' pups are the latest headline-grabbing claim from the bioscience venture founded by tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm and Harvard geneticist George Church, which says it is working to bring back some of the world's most famous extinct species. In its sights are the woolly mammoth, the dodo and thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, which it aims to reengineer for the modern world. It has already created mice with hair like a woolly mammoth, and aims to conserve ancient traits as part of what it says are broader efforts to preserve the world's biodiversity. The company has been valued at $10.2 billion and raised $435 million in funding, including $200 million announced in January. Colossal's chief science officer, Beth Shapiro, said in a statement on the company's website that the birth of the pups shows 'we are one step closer to a world in which these tools are among those at our disposal to help species thrive in their rapidly changing habitats.' Shapiro, previously told The Washington Post that the company was not trying to clone animals in the same way that had been done with Dolly the Sheep. 'We're not trying to make something that's identical to a dodo,' Shapiro said about the company's efforts to create a dodo-like bird using the DNA of a pigeon. 'We're trying to create something that's able to behave like a dodo would on that landscape in some key, functional way. So a large, flightless bird that wanders around and eats fruits and spreads the seeds,' she said. Some scientists are dismissive of the claims and wary of the company's approach, even while expressing admiration for the technological accomplishments of its CRISPR gene editing techniques — in which a piece of DNA can be snipped out from a genome and precisely replaced. In the wolves' case, scientists edited the gray wolf genome to approximate the size, color and coat of a dire wolf, Rawlence said. 'There are about 19,000 genes in that genome. They looked at all the differences and said there are 20 key differences in 14 key genes that they could change to make a gray wolf look like a dire wolf,' he said. 'Their technology is amazing, but my personal view is it needs to be used to conserve the animals we've got left,' he said. This could include using money the company has raised to manage existing endangered species or reintroduce genetic diversity among existing species to help them adapt to climate change or diseases. He said trying to re-create the characteristics of extinct animals provides no incentive to conserve species in the first place and raises concerns about where and how the animals will live. 'Is there even going to be the habitat? How are you going to deal with increased human-wolf conflict? What's going to happen when your genetically engineered gray wolves hybridize with other gray wolves?' he said. He also raised concerns about how a species could survive with just three members and said 'at least 500 individuals' would be needed to ensure a genetically diverse population. He also raised ethical concerns: Will extinction companies trademark these creatures? Who owns them? These are all discussions we need to have,' he said. Colossal did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning. Michael Knapp, an associate professor at the University of Otago's department of anatomy, agreed the topic raises a raft of ethical questions but said the birth of the pups is a 'major breakthrough in genetics.' 'It is easy to brush attempts to bring back extinct species off as vanity projects without purpose in the real world, but that would ignore the technological breakthroughs behind these efforts,' he said in a statement. 'Whether or not this is an avenue that should be further pursued is a highly complex question.'
