Friday, March 07, 2025

REALLY, REALLY TINY MAMMOTHS.

By Bob Walsh

 

In this Feb 2025 photo provided by Colossal Biosciences are genetically edited mice with long, thick, woolly hair at a lab in Dallas, Texas. (Colossal Biosciences via AP)
In this Feb 2025 photo provided by Colossal Biosciences are genetically edited mice with long, thick, woolly hair at a lab in Dallas, Texas.
 
 
A genetic research outfit has just managed to tweak the genes of mice to develop woolly mice, in preparation to clone a Woolly Mammoth. 

The organization, Colossal Biosciences, has been around for four years.  They have managed to retrieve DNA from Wooly Mammoths, which only went extinct about 10,000 years ago, and altered some genes in mice to get the hair color and texture.  The organization has raised a shit-ton of money, from sources ranging from the CIA to various celebrities. 

The group has claimed to have created elephant stems cells, which can be programmed to become specific, including eggs.  These could be used to create elephant-mammoth hybrids.  


Dr. Beth Shapiro, Ph.D. (Lead Paleogeneticist and Colossal Scientific Advisory Board Member) and Ben Lamm (Colossal Co-Founder and CEO).
 
 
The group also has plans to clone and reintroduce DoDo birds, just because they can, or at least think they can. 

The whole idea makes a fair number of people really nervous.  Just because something can be done that does not necessarily mean it should be done, nor does it mean it is safe to do so. 

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