Science
Opinion: How bringing back the woolly mammoth could save species that still walk the Earth
As more species are pushed to the brink of extinction, conservationists are responding to our biodiversity crisis in new and sometimes controversial ways. One such novel approach could be described as the mammoth in the room: “de-extinction” technology that has the potential to protect and restore species on the brink of extinction and, more provocatively, those that disappeared from the planet long ago.
We can avoid such innovation and the controversy that comes with it. But the reality is that many milestone moments in conservation have been contentious.
Take the California condor, whose population was down to 22 known individuals in 1982. At the time, taking all the animals out of the wild for a captive breeding program sparked outrage among conservation professionals and in local communities. Today, however, thanks to those efforts and subsequent reintroductions of the birds into the wild, their population exceeds 500. Now captive breeding programs are regularly used to maintain and restore a variety of threatened species.
Or consider conservationists’ difficult decision in 1995 to relocate eight female mountain lions from Texas to infuse new genes into the population of Florida panthers, a subspecies of the puma. Only about 30 Florida panthers were left at the time, and inbreeding had rendered them susceptible to disease and other health problems. Although this genetic rescue effort was highly controversial at the time, it was also very successful, decreasing the effects of inbreeding and allowing the population to steadily grow. Today about 200 adult panthers live in southwest Florida, and the intervention is regarded as a model.
The use of assisted reproductive technology such as artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization to bolster dwindling species has been a more recent subject of debate within the conservation community. But since these tools were introduced, they have become standard among zoos’ “insurance” populations of threatened species and in captive breeding programs aimed at reintroducing species into the wild.
Our organizations, the biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences and the conservation group Re:wild, recently announced a partnership to use de-extinction technology to protect and restore species on the brink of extinction. It is a powerful collaboration between an organization with extensive experience in wildlife and ecosystem conservation and a company that is using gene editing and genetic engineering technology to make extinction a thing of the past.
Both Re:wild and Colossal want to save species that are going extinct now. But at the heart of Colossal’s mission is a belief that the science to restore and recover species on the brink can be accelerated by moonshot projects such as reviving the mammoth or the dodo. This focus on de-extinction, or bringing back extinct species, is understandably a subject of vigorous debate.
So it’s no wonder that our partnership caught some in the conservation community by surprise. Even internally, it took lots of thoughtful and nuanced discussion — involving often passionate and sometimes seemingly insurmountable differences — to align around shared goals.
In the end, even though Re:wild has reservations about whether the woolly mammoth and other extinct species should be returned to Earth, the organization will advise on the feasibility of such reintroductions because of the projects’ potential to generate technology that could save hundreds of critically endangered species. We will work together to study the advantages, disadvantages and feasibility of each reintroduction, working with local interests and a cross-section of the conservation community. With the world’s sixth great extinction event upon us, we need every available tool to prevent extinctions and accelerate species restoration.
The conservation community has recovered species from the brink of extinction — some of which were down to a few individuals — but every one of those recoveries has been hard-fought. We will be able to restore critically endangered species much more quickly by combining Colossal’s technology with proven approaches such as conservation breeding programs, translocations of endangered species populations, assisted reproductive technology, biobanking of threatened species’ tissues and cells, and genetic rescue.
We are already seeing the benefits of Colossal’s technology for threatened species. The tools and techniques developed for every effort to bring a species back from extinction will also benefit closely related species that still live.
The woolly mammoth project, for instance, has sequenced the genomes of both the Asian elephant and the African elephant; has developed induced pluripotent stem cells with the ability to differentiate into other types of elephant cells; and is accelerating a cure for the deadly elephant herpes virus. Many extant marsupials will likewise benefit from the technology Colossal is developing to bring back the thylacine, an extinct carnivorous marsupial also known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf. That includes the development of artificial pouches and synthetic milk, which will enable expanded conservation breeding programs and reintroduction efforts.
We’re also using or planning to use this technology to protect and restore northern white rhinos, Sumatran rhinos, pink pigeons, Tasmanian devils, northern quolls (a small carnivorous marsupial) and many other species.
Not everyone agrees that a headline-grabbing de-extinction of the woolly mammoth would be beneficial to our planet. But it’s hard to dismiss the project’s capacity to create tools and technologies that can prevent countless species from going extinct in the first place.
Our partnership is also allowing us to tap into new sources of conservation funding that would not be available without the interest that de-extinction generates. Even though it will always be cheaper and easier to save a species from extinction than to bring it back, we still need more resources to combat the biodiversity crisis.
Conservation is not easy, and the extinction crisis has no single solution. With an estimated 12% of bird species, 26% of mammals, 31% of sharks and rays, 36% of reef-building corals and 41% of amphibians at risk, we need to consider every tool we have to secure the future of our planet and all the life on it. We look forward to the day de-extinction technology is commonly used to restore endangered species and we’re considering the next conservation moonshot.
Matt James is Colossal’s chief animal officer. Barney Long is Re:wild’s senior director of conservation strategies.
Our universe might be chock-full of cosmic wonder, but you can observe only a fraction of astronomical phenomena with the naked eye. Meteor showers, natural fireworks that streak brightly across the night sky, are one of them.
The latest observable meteor shower will be the Lyrids, which has been active since April 14 and is forecast to continue through April 30. The shower reaches its peak April 21 to 22, or Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
According to NASA, the Lyrids are one of the oldest known meteor showers, and have been enjoyed by stargazers for nearly 3,000 years. Their bright, speedy streaks are caused by the dusty debris from a comet named Thatcher. They appear to spring from the constellation Lyra, which right now can be seen in the eastern sky at night in the Northern Hemisphere.
The moon will be about 27 percent full tonight, appearing as a thick crescent in the sky, according to the American Meteor Society.
To get a hint at when to best watch for the Lyrids, you can use this tool, which relies on data from the Global Meteor Network. It shows fireball activity levels in real time.
And while you gaze at the heavens, keep an eye out for other stray meteors streaking across the night sky. Skywatchers are reporting that the amount of fireballs is double what is usually seen by this point in the year.
Where meteor showers come from
There is a chance you might see a meteor on any given night, but you are most likely to catch one during a shower. Meteor showers are caused by Earth passing through the rubble trailing a comet or asteroid as it swings around the sun. This debris, which can be as small as a grain of sand, leaves behind a glowing stream of light as it burns up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Meteor showers occur around the same time every year and can last for days or weeks. But there is only a small window when each shower is at its peak, which happens when Earth reaches the densest part of the cosmic debris. The peak is the best time to look for a shower. From our point of view on Earth, the meteors will appear to come from the same point in the sky.
The Perseid meteor shower, for example, peaks in mid-August from the constellation Perseus. The Geminids, which occur every December, radiate from the constellation Gemini.
How to watch a meteor shower
Michelle Nichols, the director of public observing at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, recommends forgoing the use of telescopes or binoculars while watching a meteor shower.
“You just need your eyes and, ideally, a dark sky,” she said.
That’s because meteors can shoot across large swaths of the sky, so observing equipment can limit your field of view.
Some showers are strong enough to produce up to 100 streaks an hour, according to the American Meteor Society, though you probably won’t see that many.
“Almost everybody is under a light-polluted sky,” Ms. Nichols said. “You may think you’re under a dark sky, but in reality, even in a small town, you can have bright lights nearby.”
Planetariums, local astronomy clubs or even maps like this one can help you figure out where to go to escape excessive light. The best conditions for catching a meteor shower are a clear sky with no moon or cloud cover, sometime between midnight and sunrise. (Moonlight affects visibility in the same way as light pollution, washing out fainter sources of light in the sky.) Make sure to give your eyes at least 30 minutes to adjust to seeing in the dark.
Ms. Nichols also recommends wearing layers, even during the summer. “You’re going to be sitting there for quite a while, watching,” she said. “It’s going to get chilly, even in August.”
Bring a cup of cocoa or tea for even more warmth. Then lie back, scan the sky and enjoy the show.
Where weather is least likely to affect your view
Storm systems sweep across the country in early spring, and some will be obscuring skies tonight. But there will still be plenty of areas with clear skies, particularly in parts of the central United States.
“The best spot is going to be in the Upper Midwest,” said Rich Bann, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center.
Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa will offer especially good sky-viewing weather and a beach on the Great Lakes could be a nice spot to look up at the stars.
But don’t expect to view the show from Chicago, as Illinois could see some thunderstorms. The weather will be better in the Northern and Central Plains, particularly the eastern Dakotas.
High, wispy clouds are expected over the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and into parts of the Mid-Atlantic. But, Mr. Bann said, “you may be able to see some shooting stars through thin clouds.”
Clouds will be draped across much of the Southeast and the Northeast, though there could be some clearing in Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Virginia. Remember, the meteors could be visible all night long. If you look outside and see clouds, try again later.
Catching the spectacle will be challenging across much of the West, particularly from Washington into Northern California, where a storm system is bringing rain and snow. That system will move east overnight.
There are likely to be some pockets of clear skies at times across southern Nevada, northwest Arizona and southwest Utah, Mr. Bann said.
Amy Graff contributed reporting.
WASHINGTON — Amid growing national security concerns, the FBI said Tuesday that it has launched a broad investigation in the deaths or disappearances of at least 10 scientists and staff connected to highly sensitive research, including four from the Los Angeles area.
“The FBI is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists. We are working with the Department of Energy, Department of War, and with our state and state and local law enforcement partners to find answers,” the agency said in a statement.
The FBI’s announcement comes after the House Oversight Committee announced that it would investigate reports of the disappearance and deaths of the scientists, sending letters seeking information from the agencies involved in the federal inquiry as well as NASA, which owns the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, where three of the missing or dead scientists worked.
“If the reports are accurate, these deaths and disappearances may represent a grave threat to U.S. national security and to U.S. personnel with access to scientific secrets,” Reps. James Comer (R-Ky.), chairman of the committee, and Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) wrote in the letters.
President Trump told reporters last week that he had been briefed on the missing and dead scientists, which he described as “pretty serious stuff.” He said at the time that he expected answers on whether the deaths were connected “in the next week and a half.”
Michael David Hicks, who studied comets and asteroids at JPL, was the first of the scientists who disappeared or died. He died on July 30, 2023, at the age of 59. No cause of death was disclosed.
A year later, JPL physicist Frank Maiwald died at 61, with no cause of death disclosed.
Two other Los Angeles scientists are part of the string of deaths and disappearances.
On June 22, 2025, Monica Jacinto Reza, a materials scientist at JPL, disappeared while on a hike near Mt. Waterman in the San Gabriel Mountains.
On Feb. 16, Caltech astrophysicist Carl Grillmair was fatally shot on the porch of his Llano home. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department arrested Freddy Snyder, 29, in connection with the shooting. Snyder had been arrested in December on suspicion of trespassing on Grillmair’s property.
Snyder has been charged with murder.
There is no evidence at this point that the deaths and disappearances, which occurred over a span of four years, are connected.
A spokesperson for NASA, which owns JPL, said in a statement on X that the agency is “coordinating and cooperating with the relevant agencies in relation to the missing scientists.
“At this time, nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat,” agency spokesperson Bethany Stevens wrote. “The agency is committed to transparency and will provide more information as able.”
Representatives from Caltech, which manages JPL, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The sun had barely risen over the Pacific Ocean when a small motorboat carrying a team of Indigenous artisans and Mexican biologists dropped anchor in a rocky cove near Bahías de Huatulco.
Mauro Habacuc Avendaño Luis, one of the craftsmen, was the first to wade to shore. With an agility belying his age, he struck out over the boulders exposed by low tide. Crouching on a slippery ledge pounded by surf, he reached inside a crevice between two rocks. There, lodged among the urchins, was a snail with a knobby gray shell the size of a walnut. The sight might not dazzle tourists who travel here to see humpback whales, but for Mr. Avendaño, 85, these drab little mollusks represent a way of life.
Marine snails in the genus Plicopurpura are sacred to the Mixtec people of Pinotepa de Don Luis, a small town in southwestern Oaxaca. Men like Mr. Avendaño have been sustainably “milking” them for radiant purple dye for at least 1,500 years. The color suffuses Mixtec textiles and spiritual beliefs. Called tixinda, it symbolizes fertility and death, as well as mythic ties between lunar cycles, women and the sea.
The future of these traditions — and the fate of the snails — are uncertain. The mollusks are subject to intense poaching pressure despite federal protections intended to protect them. Fishermen break them (and the other mollusks they eat) open and sell the meat to local restaurants. Tourists who comb the beaches pluck snails off the rocks and toss them aside.
A severe earthquake in 2020 thrust formerly submerged parts of their habitat above sea level, fatally tossing other mollusks in the snail’s food web to the air, and making once inaccessible places more available to poachers.
Decades ago, dense clusters of snails the size of doorknobs were easy to find, according to Mr. Avendaño. “Full of snails,” he said, sweeping a calloused, violet-stained hand across the coves. Now, most of the snails he finds are small, just over an inch, and yield only a few milliliters of dye.
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