4,000 years ago on a remote island in the Arctic Ocean the Last wly Mammoth took its final [Music] breath its species driven extinct by a combination of climate change and human [Music] activity today on the brink of our own climate crisis scientists are attempting to bring these ancient beasts back from the dead not as mere [Music] Curiosities but as allies in the fight to prevent a climate [Music] catastrophe the Battleground is the Arctic Plains where over a trillion tons of dead matter are trapped under frozen ground called called permafrost for thousands of years the permafrost
has acted like a kind of global freezer preventing dead plants and animals from rotting and releasing their carbon into the atmosphere But Rising global temperatures are causing permafrost to thaw at alarming rates if we allow it to melt unchecked it would be like opening the freezer and letting the contents spoil into the open air there is around twice as much carbon locked beneath the permafrost as there is currently an Earth's atmosphere releasing just a fraction of this carbon could be disastrous [Music] before their Extinction mammoths played a crucial role in preserving the permafrost they cleared
snow and young trees exposing the soil to the frigid air and keep keeping the ground [Music] Frozen after their Extinction the Arctic landscape [Music] transformed forests and shrubs took over absorbing more heat and contributing to the thawing of the [Music] permafrost but incredibly using tissues from recovered Frozen mammoths researchers are now on the brink of creating an elephant Mammoth hybrid reintroducing these creatures to the Arctic could reverse the trend and prevent climate catastrophe by preserving permafrost [Music] [Applause] [Music] it all starts with the Asian elephant which shares over 98% of its DNA with the woolly
[Music] mammoth by comparing their genom side by side we can reveal the differences in genetic code then use Gene editing to transfer the desired [Music] mutations the trpv3 gene was modified by mammoths to produce shaggier hair and better [Music] insulation copying this mutation into elephant cells could activate these cold adapted traits the gene edited cells can then be cloned to create embryos for surrogate elephant mothers [Music] [Music] colossal biosciences the startup spearheading this effort aims to produce the first hybrid caves by 2028 as a proof of concept they recently created woolly mice with Shaggy Mammoth
likee Fur by modifying the corresponding genes in the mouse genome their road map includes the development of artificial wombs a means for growing embryos without the need for [Music] surrogates the company also plans to create biova [Music] vaults biological archives containing thousands of tissue specimens of living species which could help restore biodiversity in case of catastrophe [Music] [Music] D Extinction Technologies can benefit more than just lost species they can help protect endangered animals improve agriculture restore ecosystems and M gate [Music] disease and mastering Gene editing will power huge breakthroughs in human health if de Extinction
lives up to its promise then we could save millions of human and animal lives prevent a looming climate catastrophe and resurrect a legendary creature marking a new chapter in the relationship between Earth life and [Music] [Applause] Humanity recently scientists were surprised to discover that parts of the Arctic tundra are actively emitting more greenhouse gases than they capture but many people are still in denial about this crisis because of how facts are spun in the media to avoid biased perspectives around topics like these we partnered with ground news the sponsor of this video founded by a
former NASA engineer their app and website gather perspectives from around the world weave together a complete picture of the most pressing issues then map out the hidden biases and blind spots that shape public perception ground news is how we found full coverage on the permafrost carbon imbalance as well as the recent development of woolly mice the site offers not just one perspective but a Global Network of Highly credible sources to compare this has given us a way to explore multiple perspectives challenge assumptions and think more critically about the world we are shaping create a less
divided and more more United Future by going to ground news.com melody or scan the QR code to subscribe our viewers save 40% on their Vantage plan the link is also in the description thanks for watching [Music]
