Mammoth-elephant hybrids could be created within the decade. Should they be?

A new startup co-founded by Harvard geneticist George Church wants to use cold-adapted elephants to remake the Arctic tundra—raising major scientific and ethical questions.

Published September 13, 2021
14 min read

Harvard geneticist George Church has co-founded a new company with an audacious goal: engineer an elephant that resembles the extinct woolly mammoth. The company, named Colossal, aims to use woolly mammoth DNA to make a hybridized Asian elephant that could thrive in Arctic climates. 

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