The CIA wants to revive the mammoth with genetic engineering

capital company A CIA-funded project is officially betting on the recovery of extinct species such as the woolly mammoth and the Tasmanian tiger. Harborgeneral newspaper seen by Intercept.

The company is called In-Q-Tel and its mission (according to it The Web) is investing in technologies that enhance the national security of United State. At In-Q-Tel More than 20 yearsBut only now has taxpayer money been directed toward reviving extinct animals through genetic engineering.

NQ Tel She added Colossal Biosciences to its general portfolio; In other words, the CIA spent money From American taxpayers In this project de-extinction. Huge It was last year’s news When he announced his intention to bring back the woolly mammoth, the elephant’s noticeably hairier cousin, who It became extinct about 4000 years ago. The company’s stated goal is to bring a giant calf to the world within five years.

massive spread This statement this summer, when he announced that he will also try Reviving the Tasmanian tigeror the Tasmanian tiger, a wolf-like marsupial that was driven to extinction by poaching in the early 1900s.

massive argue “Rebuilding” such extinct creatures will support local economies and help reverse the effects of climate change by owning them Net positive impact on carbon offset.

Los críticos de la desextinción plantean varios problemas: argumentan que los hábitats originales de la mayoría de los animales extintos ya no existen y que sería mejor invertir los fondos destinados a la desextinción en la protección de las especies que aún existen. Colossal y sus partidarios sostienen que la financiación de la investigación genómica detrás de la extinción y la financiación del trabajo de conservación no son mutuamente excluyentes.

Para complicar aún más las cosas a nivel conceptual, los animales que se mezclan a partir de los genomas de especies extintas y sus primos más cercanos no serían los mismos animales que desaparecieron hace años. Serían especies representativas: animales que se parecen y podrían actuar como los que se han ido.

Incluso si la desextinción se lleva a cabo sin problemas, es decir, sin dañar a los animales utilizados para producir los animales sustitutos ni a los propios animales sustitutos, las características de comportamiento no se pueden extrapolar de los genes. En otras palabras, los animales no tendrán una población preexistente que les enseñe a actuar como un mamut o un tilacino.

En su websiteColossal also announces its intention to Revival of the dodo, a flightless bird endemic to Mauritius that was hunted to extinction in the 17th century.

in 2019 Extinction DiscussionGeorge Church, co-founder of Colossal, said recreating the mammoth isn’t just a vanity project, or something that was invented to recreate a wonderful animal. Search The extinction of the mammoth could mean helping to treat the herpes virus in Asian elephants. Church said that questions about blaming humans for extinction are “almost irrelevant” and that “the question is, do these species have anything to offer us?”

Since In-Q-Tel’s mission is to invest in technology that enhances national security, it might as well be Requests yes we will see Predatory carnivorous marsupials or hairy proboscis on the horizon. Or am I just wondering? The reality is much simpler, though as simple as actual extinction.

In a post by Articles On the company’s website on September 20, two executives emphasized the importance of understanding genomics and applying new computing power to biological data sets. “Strategically speaking, it’s not so much about mammoths as it is about capacity,” they wrote.

Besides Colossal, In-Q-Tel has named Chi Botanic and Living Carbon (both working in genetic engineering plants) as two companies that do useful research into complex bioengineering. Colossal is the only one of the three that In-Q-Tel has in its portfolio.

However, CIA officers may benefit from the investigation. The Intercept reported that In-Q-Tel board members can sit on boards of directors The companies in which the company invests. In 2016, Discover the Wall Street Journal That half of In-Q-Tel’s board of directors were associated with companies the company has invested in, raised ethical concerns.

Something similar to mammoths or Tasmanian tigers could well emerge from Colossal’s work, now thanks to funding from the CIA. But if you think the end result is similar to the work of Lazarus or Frankenstein, then this is another question.