A US biotech company's claim to have “de-extincted” dire wolves, made famous by TV's Game of Thrones, has sparked debate over the future of genetics and whether other extinct species could return.
Colossal Biosciences recently announced it had created three pure white canines that represented a revival of the dire wolf, which became extinct about 13,000 years ago. Romulus and Remus, both males, were born in October last year and are now adolescents, while Khaleesi, a female, arrived more recently and is still a pup.
The Dallas company extracted and sequenced DNA from dire wolf fossils, one of them 72,000 years old, and genetically engineered modern grey wolves to resemble the long-lost species.
After editing more than a dozen genes, the company created animals with long, thick, white fur, although some scientists have said the original dire wolves are unlikely to have been such a snowy colour.
Among the many scientific and ethical questions raised by the feat, one perhaps looms largest: what other creatures could be brought back to life through the process of “de-extinction”?
Resurrection plans
Just weeks before showcasing its striking white wolves, Colossal unveiled its “woolly mice”. These mice have been genetically engineered to have coats of long, thick fur.
Using a similar approach to genetically engineer Asian elephants to have long red fur, Colossal hopes to bring back the woolly mammoth. Its other previously announced projects include attempting to recreate the dodo and the Tasmanian tiger.
However, the Colossal Biosciences method – of genetically engineering living species to resemble their disappeared relatives – could ultimately be superseded, William Kunin, professor of ecology at the University of Leeds, told The National.
“There will come a time when you cannot just alter an existing species, but [also] reanimate a lost species,” Prof Kunin said. “What’s being talked about now is a more practical solution in the short term.”
Recreating lost species need not involve creatures from the distant past, as there is also the option to reanimate animals very recently driven to extinction.
Among the species that Brendan Godley, professor of conservation science at the University of Exeter, would like to see living again is the Chinese river dolphin.
It is considered to be the first dolphin species driven to extinction by human beings. For millions of years they lived in the Yangtze River, but none have been since a 2006 expedition to find if any remained proved fruitless.
Ethical challenges
The Chinese river dolphin highlights a key issue around recreating lost species: if they could be brought back, what sort of world would they be returning to?
Such is the scale of destruction of natural habitats that many extinct species would find today’s world no more amenable than the one that caused them to disappear in the first place. “Species go extinct for a reason,” Prof Godley said. “Unless you can correct some of the [causes] that drove them to extinction, there’s no place for them to come back to.”
So, if the Chinese river dolphin were recreated, it would mean dealing with the problems of the Yangtze River, including chemical pollution. Other factors include overfishing of the animals’ prey and heavy shipping activity. “You don’t want to create dolphins to live in captivity,” Prof Godley said.
Similar arguments have been applied to the dodo, because little of its former forest habitat on Mauritius remains.
“If we don't address the reasons and mechanisms species went extinct, we may not see long-term success in bringing back species,” said Dr Manisha Bhardwaj, a wildlife ecologist at the University of Freiburg in Germany. “There are reasons species went extinct, and in many cases the reasons are largely human-mediated.
“These issues challenge existing species and habitats, and may hinder the success of species brought back. We're in the midst of a mass extinction period, and we need to make changes in order for things to improve.”
Importance of diet
The passenger pigeon is another case. There were millions of these birds in North America – they were famed for their large flocks – but they suffered a precipitous decline in the late 19th century because of factors including hunting and habitat destruction. The last living specimen, a bird called Martha at Cincinnati Zoo, died in 1914.
“The passenger pigeon is an animal that was mega abundant, but driven to extinction because it was thought to be limitless,” Prof Godley said. If they were to return, it would be to a world without their primary food source.
“What passenger pigeons ate were chestnuts, and the chestnuts aren’t there,” Prof Kunin said. The passenger pigeon’s main source of food, American chestnut trees, “effectively went extinct because of introduced pests”.
Chestnut blight was introduced from Japan and killed an estimated 3.5 billion American chestnut trees in the first half of the 20th century. Today, the American chestnut is considered “functionally extinct” because saplings usually fall victim to chestnut blight and rarely reach maturity.
Prof Kunin said it “would be amazing” if resistant forms of the tree could be introduced so the species regained its former glory. Indeed, the American Chestnut Foundation is using multiple approaches, including traditional breeding, genetic engineering and blight control to try to help restore populations of the species.
So, in future, it may be a tree from the past, and not just animals such as the dire wolf, the dodo and the woolly mammoth, that graces the planet again.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Sara El Bakkali v Anisha Kadka (Lightweight, female)
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Abrorbek Madaminbekov v Mohammed Al Katheeri (Featherweight)
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Nouredin Samir v Zainalabid Dadachev (Lightweight)
Marlon Ribeiro v Mehdi Oubahammou (Welterweight)
Brad Stanton v Mohamed El Boukhari (Super welterweight
SPECS
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THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Speed: 0-100km/h 3.9 seconds
Price: Dh230,000
On sale: now
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5pm: Maiden | Dh80,000 | 1,600m
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The advice provided in our columns does not constitute legal advice and is provided for information only. Readers are encouraged to seek independent legal advice.
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Who has been sanctioned?
Daniella Weiss and Nachala
Described as 'the grandmother of the settler movement', she has encouraged the expansion of settlements for decades. The 79 year old leads radical settler movement Nachala, whose aim is for Israel to annex Gaza and the occupied West Bank, where it helps settlers built outposts.
Harel Libi & Libi Construction and Infrastructure
Libi has been involved in threatening and perpetuating acts of aggression and violence against Palestinians. His firm has provided logistical and financial support for the establishment of illegal outposts.
Zohar Sabah
Runs a settler outpost named Zohar’s Farm and has previously faced charges of violence against Palestinians. He was indicted by Israel’s State Attorney’s Office in September for allegedly participating in a violent attack against Palestinians and activists in the West Bank village of Muarrajat.
Coco’s Farm and Neria’s Farm
These are illegal outposts in the West Bank, which are at the vanguard of the settler movement. According to the UK, they are associated with people who have been involved in enabling, inciting, promoting or providing support for activities that amount to “serious abuse”.
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
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Gertrude Bell's life in focus
A feature film
At one point, two feature films were in the works, but only German director Werner Herzog’s project starring Nicole Kidman would be made. While there were high hopes he would do a worthy job of directing the biopic, when Queen of the Desert arrived in 2015 it was a disappointment. Critics panned the film, in which Herzog largely glossed over Bell’s political work in favour of her ill-fated romances.
A documentary
A project that did do justice to Bell arrived the next year: Sabine Krayenbuhl and Zeva Oelbaum’s Letters from Baghdad: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Gertrude Bell. Drawing on more than 1,000 pieces of archival footage, 1,700 documents and 1,600 letters, the filmmakers painstakingly pieced together a compelling narrative that managed to convey both the depth of Bell’s experience and her tortured love life.
Books, letters and archives
Two biographies have been written about Bell, and both are worth reading: Georgina Howell’s 2006 book Queen of the Desert and Janet Wallach’s 1996 effort Desert Queen. Bell published several books documenting her travels and there are also several volumes of her letters, although they are hard to find in print. Original documents are housed at the Gertrude Bell Archive at the University of Newcastle, which has an online catalogue.
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What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
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Distance covered: 160km
Temperature: -40°C
Weight of equipment: 45kg
Altitude (metres above sea level): 0
Terrain: Ice rock
South Pole stats
Distance covered: 130km
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Weight of equipment: 50kg
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Bio
Born in Dubai in 1994
Her father is a retired Emirati police officer and her mother is originally from Kuwait
She Graduated from the American University of Sharjah in 2015 and is currently working on her Masters in Communication from the University of Sharjah.
Her favourite film is Pacific Rim, directed by Guillermo del Toro
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The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
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Age: 25
Town: Al Diqdaqah – Ras Al Khaimah
Education: Bachelors degree in mechanical engineering
Favourite colour: White
Favourite place in the UAE: Downtown Dubai
Favourite book: A Life in Administration by Ghazi Al Gosaibi.
First owned baking book: How to Be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson.
