Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:
A group of geneticists armed with millions of dollars in funding work round the clock to bring an extinct animal back to life.
No, it’s not the plot to the next Jurassic Park movie. Not quite, at least.
According to numerous news reports, a new biosciences and genetics company by the name of Colossal, has raised $15 million to bring back the woolly mammoth from extinction.
Because, what could go wrong?
The plan is to genetically engineer a living elephant-mammoth hybrid that has the appearance of a woolly mammoth. Proponents of the project believe the beasts could help restore the Arctic tundra ecosystem and preserve the endangered Asian elephant, the woolly mammoth’s closest relative.
Of course, scientists spent so much time trying to figure out if they could, they didn’t take a moment to wonder whether they should. The plan is, of course, riddled with potential ethical dilemmas. But who needs ethics when we could have wooly mammoths?