Colossal Biosciences plans to bring back to life the long-extinct Mammoth, Dodo and Tilacino. Reality or science fiction?
The extinction of some animals is a sad reality, a consequence of human activity over the centuries, which has thoughtlessly and profoundly altered the structure of various ecosystems. It is not new, unfortunately, that the hand of man has profoundly altered the fauna of a given place, leading to the disappearance of some creatures, such as the Mammoth or the Dodo.
Irreversible process? Perhaps not, at least as far as the project that George Church’s U.S.-based company Colossal Biosciences has been developing for years, with the aim of undoing the extinction of certain species of animals. It sounds like a crazy idea, perfect for Hollywood but not relevant to the reality of the facts, but CEO Church is not of the same mind (and his supporters are not either, given the huge investments in recent years).
According to the plan developed by Colossal, it would in fact be possible to modify the genomes of living descendants of extinct creatures in order to make a “functional” version of the extinct animal. Is this really an extinction nullification process? Considering the interest of investors, who have allocated more than $200 million to the development of the U.S.-based startup in recent years, and the growing media attention on their research, it seems so.
“It’s definitely not an easy or immediate process,” Church explains to Stat News. “It takes about 6 years just to get a mammoth calf and another 10-12 for the animal to reach sexual maturity.” No small amount of time, considering that the success of the operation is not guaranteed.
The benefit given by the research itself, as well as its ultimate purpose, must be taken into consideration. Delving into the generic structure of the missing creatures would mean obtaining additional information, as yet unknown, about their genetic identity, structural details and other important elements unknown to date.
Photo : Pexels
Author: Alessandro Volpe