Can Bringing Back the Woolly Mammoth Save the Planet?

When we talk about the rapid advancements of technology — where we are today, what we're capable of and where we could go— how big do we get to think? For Ben Lamm and his company Colossal, the weight of innovation is in the tons. That's because Colossal is working to bring back the woolly mammoth, the 6-ton prehistoric relative of the elephant that went extinct 10,000 years ago. It's all part of his de-extinction project that dares to bring back species like the dire wolf, the dodo, the woolly mammoth and the bluebuck, Colossal's most recently announced target —  an extinct species of antelope, with a distinct “blue” coat, that lived in South Africa until about the 1800s.  But bringing these species back to life isn’t just for scientific spectacle. Lamm believes these animals could be essential to solving our planet's biggest conservation challenges. How exactly? In this episode, host Laurie Segall digs into the technology required to bring extinct species back from the dead, and the benefits Lamm believes de-extinction can have on our ecosystem. Could such an ambitious project reinvigorate national moonshot scientific goals? And, the real question on everyone’s minds: is this ‘Jurassic Park’ in real life?  If you have thoughts or questions for Laurie about this episode or anything Mostly Human, email us at [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.