De-Extinction: My story for National Geographic, an all-day exploration, and your questions

Advances in cloning, stem cell manipulations, and sequencing DNA raise a profound possibility: we might be able to bring some species back from extinction. That’s the subject of my cover story for the April issue of National Geographic, which comes out today, and which you can read here.

This morning I spoke on Morning Edition on National Public Radio. The interview will be archived here.

Later today, I will be giving an introductory talk to an all-day exploration of “De-Exinction” at a TEDx meeting at the National Geographic Society. The talks will come from a remarkable line-up of cloning experts, conservation biologists, bioethicists, artists, and others. You can watch the live stream here, and in a few weeks all the videos will be posted online.

This is a fascinatingly complex subject–there are all sorts of questions about how de-extinction would work and about whether it’s a good idea or not. I’d like to invite everyone to post any questions they have from the article or meeting in the comment thread for this post. When I get back home, I will answer as many questions as I can and publish them in a post on Monday