Ep. 267 The Animal That Went Extinct Twice: The Dark Truth About Cloning & Genetic Modification

Send us Fan MailIf you enjoyed this deep dive on cloning and genetic modification, hit subscribe, drop a comment with your take — should we bring back the woolly mammoth? — and share the episode with the friend who still thinks Walt Disney's head is in a freezer.Cloning and genetic modification get blended together constantly in pop culture, so this episode breaks down what's actually real, what's a myth, and how we got from a frog tadpole in 1952 to dire wolf pups in 2025.Brian, Thomas, and producer Corey (it's Corey's birthday) walk through the full history and science of cloning — admitting up front they're not scientists, just three guys following a rabbit hole that started with a family cloning their dog, CRISPR edits, and the Lone Star tick. From there it turns into a surprisingly thorough tour of how copying and editing life actually works.The episode untangles the four ideas people constantly confuse: cloning (a genetic copy, same DNA), genetic modification / gene editing (changing genes, like CRISPR), de-extinction (reviving a lost species), and chimeras (mixing cells from two species). With that foundation set, the crew traces the timeline from Yves Delage's 1895 nuclear transplantation concept and Hans Spemann's 1938 "fantastical experiment," through the first nuclear transfer in 1952, John Gurdon's Nobel Prize work, and Dolly the sheep — the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, born July 5, 1996.If you've ever wondered whether you can really clone your pet, this one answers it: it's real, it's commercial, and it's expensive. They cover the actual companies and price tags, why a clone is not a resurrection, and why the Humane Society pushes back on the practice. The conversation also gets into man-animal hybrids — the bizarre real story of Soviet scientist Ilya Ivanov — and busts the myth that Stalin wanted an army of ape-man super soldiers.This is for anyone curious about CRISPR, stem cell medicine, de-extinction headlines, and the ethics underneath all of it: human-animal chimeras grown for transplant organs, the 100,000+ Americans on the organ waiting list, and whether reproductive human cloning should stay banned. Expect the science (telomeres, Large Offspring Syndrome, the brutal 1–5% survival rate) alongside the kind of unfiltered, off-the-rails commentary the show is known for.By the end you'll understand why the 2025 "dire wolf" isn't really a dire wolf, what the Bucardo's grim record actually was, and why mules — and ligers — can't be bred the way you'd think. It's a fast, funny, fact-checked crash course in one of the wildest fields in modern science.New episodes of The Days Grimm Podcast drop regularly — history, science, true crime, and whatever rabbit hole Tom drags everyone into next.TIMELINE:00:00 — Cold open & welcome (Corey's birthday)01:58 — Today's deep dive: cloning and genetic modification02:07 — "We're not scientists" disclaimer03:04 — Why Tom picked this: CRISPR, the Lone Star tick & a cloned dog04:34 — 1895: the first nuclear transplantation concept06:21 — The 4 things people confuse: cloning, gene editing, de-extinction & chimeras07:07 — Why the 2025 "dire wolf" is really edited gray wolf11:16 — 1952 leopard frogs & John Gurdon's Nobel work12:30 — Dolly the sheep and why she mattered14:00 — Why mules (and ligers) can't reproduce16:46 — How cloning actually works (somatic cell nuclear transfer)20:26 — What we've cloned so far + first primate clones (2018)21:54 — Can you clone your pet? The real companies and prices23:51 — A clone is not a resurrection + welfare concerns25:01 — Man-animal hybrids & the Soviet Ivanov story27:00 — Chimeras for medicine and pig organ transplants32:00 — De-extinction & the Bucardo: "extinct twice"33:47 — The black-footed ferret success story34:30 — 2025 dire wolf pups & the woolly mouse37:00 — Telomeres, Large Offspring Syndrome & failure rates39:30 — Ethics: mammoths, pets, chimeras & human cloning41:00 — Busting the Walt Disney frozen-head myth42:30 — Wrap-up[The Days Grimm Podcast Links]- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheDaysGrimm- Our link tree: linktr.ee/Thedaysgrimm- GoFundMe account for The Days Grimm: https://gofund.me/02527e7c [The Days Grimm is brought to you by]Sadness & ADHD (non-medicated)