Texas Lab Takes First Steps in Bringing Back Woolly Mammoths

Have these fools not seen Jurassic Park? We all know where this is heading, right? In a Texas laboratory, history is taking place. Though not quite in the way you might expect. Before the iconic woolly mammoth can once again roam the Earth, it seems science must first make do with something much smaller. Mice. We are talking about mice.

A bioengineering company in Texas called Collassal Biosciences has successfully created what it describes as "woolly mice," a first step in its effort to bring back the prehistoric behemoth. By tweaking the genes of ordinary rodents to mimic traits of the long-extinct mammal, researchers are testing the viability of reintroducing cold-adaptive features such as dense fur and increased fat storage on a much more manageable scale.

Scientists modify mice genes to restore woolly mammoth traits

The goal, scientists say, is not just to recreate a relic of the Ice Age, but to lay the groundwork for a broader conservation effort. Proponents argue that restoring mammoths, or at least mammoth-like creatures, to the Arctic tundra, could help slow climate change by trampling down snow and allowing permafrost to remain frozen, preventing the release of greenhouse gases.

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Skeptics, however, see this as more spectacle than science, questioning whether such genetic tinkering is beneficial or simply an expensive experiment in curiosity. And while engineering tiny woolly creatures may be a remarkable technical achievement, there's still a long road between a furry mouse and a full-grown mammoth.

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