Latest news with #WoollyMouse
Forbes
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Top AI Stars Of SXSW 2025, From Waymo Uber To Woolly Mouse
Anime drawing of Waymo and Woolly Mouse at SXSW 2025 created with ChatGPT's new image generation ... More feature. With all of the recent advancements in AI assistants, it seemed only logical that deep reasoning, autonomous agents like ChatGPT would have been crawling all over SXSW this year. But what stole the show were Waymo robotaxis on the Uber app hitting the roads in Austin and a tiny gold mouse with the genes of a Woolly Mammoth taking center stage for the keynote. SXSW has been following Woolly Mouse's creator Colossal Biosciences for years in its pursuit to revive extinct mammals. In 2024, cofounder and CEO Ben Lamm took the stage in an interview with actor Seth Green (Austin Powers) and this year with actor Joe Manganiello (True Blood, Deal or No Deal Islands) to discuss where the technology is heading. Both actors are investors in the company, along with a star-studded roster that includes Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings), Chris Hemsworth (The Avengers), Paris Hilton, Jim Breyer of Breyer Capital and the Winklevoss twins, who told me in 2021 when the company launched that it's a moonshot worth taking. In an interview with Manganiello, he shared his excitement over the prospects of the computational biology platform finding cures for epigenetic diseases, where gene expression becomes altered by generational trauma. His great grandmother who survived the Armenian Genocide gave birth to his grandmother while fighting a host of autoimmune diseases that got passed on. 'One of the purposes of my life is tracking all of that down,' Manganiello said, explaining why he's planning to take an active role in the company. Although the company's focus is on de-extinction species preservation, he is hopeful that AI-powered DNA research may lead to eradicating syndromes that continue to baffle doctors. 'I think in the next 15 years we'll have a cancer vaccine,' said Lamm, 'and in the next 20 years, we will achieve longevity.' With a hat tip to Bryan Johnson, the Don't Die guru who also was speaking at SXSW, Lamm added, we already look younger than previous generations, explaining that he's the same age as Wilfird Brimley who was 49 when he played a senior in Cocoon, the 1985 film about retirement home residents who discover the fountain of youth. Riding the AI boom, the company has raised nearly a half billion dollars and is now valued at more than $10 billion, which sounds like a big number for a moonshot, but a mere drop in the bucket when considering that ChatGPT maker OpenAI just announced the largest private round in history, $40 billion at a $300 billion dollar valuation. Plus Woolly Mouse just made its debut appearance on Saturday Night Live. There were other notable AI appearances at SXSW including Rivian, which is on the road to Level 3 autonomy and had a thrilling Electric Joyride where passengers could experience how well the electric car handles tricky terrain and steep curves. Other fun AI-adjacent activations included FX Alien: Earth, Museum of the Future, Paramount Lodge and Escape to Prime Video. At Baratunde Thurston's Life With Machines session, there was an AI assistant that participated as a panelist. And there was an entire track, including my session, dedicated to exploring how we're going to generate enough power to keep up with AI eating the Not AI Ben Affleck steered clear of AI in his action thriller, The Accountant 2, in which the head master of a Hogwarts house of hackers guides him as a smiley face on a cell phone, but is not an AI assistant that could have solved the mystery in the first minute of the film. Poppi founder Allison Ellsworth spoke to me about how their not using AI in their innovation kitchen. The probiotic soda was then acquired by Pepsi for $2 billion immediately following the show. The main takeaway from SXSW 2025 was that AI is now a big part of consumer life. There are 400 million people walking around with ChatGPT in their pocket, asking it every question they used to ask Google as this Perplexity ad spoofs. By next year, that could well be a billion people and the world is going to start looking a lot different as AI takes center stage.
Bloomberg
05-03-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Trump's Potential Chips Act Reversal, Tech Faces Tariffs
Bloomberg's Caroline Hyde and Jackie Davalos discuss a potential Chips Act reversal as President Donald Trump calls the program "horrible." And, we take a look at how President Trump's tariffs are impacting the global tech sector. Plus, a startup that aims to bring back extinct species makes a breakthrough with a "Woolly Mouse." (Source: Bloomberg)
Boston Globe
04-03-2025
- Science
- Boston Globe
Startup trying to un-extinct prehistoric mammoth creates ‘Woolly Mouse'
Despite some skepticism from paleo-geneticists, Colossal Biosciences has so far raised $435 million, and was valued at $10.2 billion in a January funding round from investor TWG Global. The company's previous backers include high-profile names like Winklevoss Capital Management and celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Peter Jackson, and Chris Hemsworth. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The startup aims to eventually use ancient samples found in frozen tundra to edit mammoth genes into those in Asian elephant cells, the mammoth's closest modern relative. Eventually, it hopes to bring back other extinct species such as the dodo and the Tasmanian tiger, in order to restore lost biodiversity. Advertisement The prospect of reintroducing animal species has drawn critiques from some scientists who believe the project isn't feasible and wouldn't achieve its aim of promoting ecological harmony. The company says it created 38 mice, and their survival rate has been comparable to regular mice. The animals will live out their natural life span, and there are no plans to sell them or breed them. Lamm emphasized that the Woolly Mouse was not the product of putting a mammoth gene in a mouse. The purpose of the experiment was to test the company's gene-editing processes. The company identified genes in mice that control hair length, thickness, color, and texture, as well as other metabolic traits. 'By engineering multiple cold-tolerant traits from mammoth evolutionary pathways into a living model species, we've proven our ability to recreate complex genetic combinations that took nature millions of years to create,' Lamm said in a statement. Advertisement The modifications for hair were successful, as seen by the mice's golden brown and thicker hair. And the altered fat metabolism gene is present in the mice, which should help it withstand the cold — though the company now has to test if the mice will be able to store fat at temperatures below freezing. It is waiting on approval from an ethics board to conduct that experiment.
Bloomberg
04-03-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
US Signals Possible Tariff Relief for Canada, Mexico
Good morning. The trade war picture just got a little murkier. Prada defies the luxury industry's downturn thanks to Miu Miu. And a startup has successfully created a 'Woolly Mouse.' Listen to the day's top stories. The tariff fallout is here, but don't expect an end to the US signaled possible relief for Canada and Mexico, less than 24 hours after Donald Trump's duties went into effect, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick telling Fox Business Network there may be some rollback Wednesday. US stocks posted a loss in a volatile regular session spurred by the widening trade war ahead of the president's address to Congress. The loonie and peso jumped to session highs and the dollar fell. Earlier, two distinct responses emerged in North America. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Trump of attempting to collapse the economy of the US's northern neighbor. In Mexico, leader Claudia Sheinbaum decried the tariffs but said she'll wait until Sunday to unveil countermeasures. The shockwaves may hit American consumers soon—with Best Buy and Target warning customers to expect higher prices as a result of the levies.
Bloomberg
04-03-2025
- Science
- Bloomberg
Startup Trying to Un-Extinct Prehistoric Mammoth Creates ‘Woolly Mouse'
Colossal Biosciences, a startup trying to bring the prehistoric mammoth back from extinction, said it has achieved a first step: the Woolly Mouse. Using DNA and genomics technologies, scientists have modified the mice to have longer, thicker hair and an altered metabolism expected to allow them to tolerate colder temperatures, the startup said Tuesday — claiming a breakthrough in its mission to revive the long-extinct mammoth. The company said it's on track to produce a woolly mammoth calf born to a surrogate elephant mother by late 2028.
