Scientific sensation: geneticists have promised to resurrect the mammoth by 2028.

More than 4,000 years have passed since the woolly mammoth last walked the Earth. However, these extinct giants may not be gone forever.

Humanity is now one step closer to seeing a living woolly mammoth. This was announced by the biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences, which is focused on resurrecting extinct species. The startup plans to spend 15 million dollars on its revolutionary development.

How they will resurrect mammoths

Researchers have made a significant breakthrough that could allow woolly mammoths to come back to life around 2028. Scientists have developed a method for creating pluripotent stem cells from elephants, which can transform into any cell in the organism. This discovery is a major achievement for the future revival of extinct species, the publication reported. Daily Mail .

Dr. George Church from Harvard Medical School, co-founder and leading geneticist at Colossal Biosciences, explained that these cells are key to resurrecting the mammoth.

Dr. George Church

According to Eriona Hisol, head of the biological sciences department at Colossal Biosciences, creating pluripotent stem cells was not easy. She mentioned that it took years to develop the method for obtaining these cells.

To transition from pluripotent cells to a living mammoth, scientists plan to edit them using genes taken from the fossil remains of the woolly mammoth. This unique biotechnology will allow researchers to obtain an egg cell that can be fertilized and grown in an artificial womb.

Ultimately, the team will create a special hybrid that will have the main features of a mammoth. In particular, a thick layer of fat, a dome-shaped skull, and long fur. The revived species will be resilient to cold climates. Researchers hope that in the future, mammoths will help restore Arctic ecosystems damaged by the climate crisis.

Currently, researchers are testing cold-resistance genes in elephants and are working on cultivating egg cells and sperm for conservation and study.

Colossal Biosciences also plans to bring the Tasmanian tiger and the dodo bird back to life.