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The Resurrection Quest

Woolly mammoths, T-Rexes... what species would you bring back if you could? Rutherford and Fry investigate the science of de-extinction.

鈥楥an we bring back extinct species?鈥 wonders listener Mikko Campbell. Well, Professor Fry is pretty excited by the prospect of woolly mammoths roaming the Siberian tundra once more. And everyone is impressed with the science that might make it happen. But Dr Rutherford comes out STRONGLY against the whole thing. Can our expert guests win him over?

Dr Helen Pilcher shares the tale of Celia the lonely mountain goat, and makes the case for cloning to help protect species at risk of extinction. Professor Beth Shapiro sets out how biotech company 鈥楥olossal鈥 plans to engineer Asian elephants鈥 DNA to make a new group of mammoth-like creatures. And we hear how genetic technologies are being used in conservation efforts around the world.

BUT WHAT ABOUT T-REXES? Not gonna happen. Sorry.

Contributors: Dr Helen Pilcher, author of 鈥楤ring Back the King: The New Science of De-Extinction鈥, Professor Beth Shapiro from the University of California Santa Cruz, Dr Ben Novak of Revive and Restore and Tullis Matson from Nature鈥檚 SAFE.

Presenters: Hannah Fry and Adam Rutherford

Producer: Ilan Goodman

Available now

39 minutes

Broadcasts

  • Tue 31 Jan 2023 11:00
  • Thu 2 Feb 2023 16:00

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