They Didn't Make Dire Wolves, They Made Something…Else

00:29:19
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar0zgedLyTw

Ringkasan

TLDRColossal's announcement about de-extincting the direwolf is met with skepticism, as many believe it reflects marketing rather than actual scientific achievement. The video discusses the difference between true de-extinction and the creation of a synthetic species. Key points include the biodiversity crisis caused by habitat destruction, the challenges of ancient DNA sequencing, and the ethical implications surrounding genetic modifications and ecological balance. The video emphasizes the importance of transparency in science, especially regarding funding sources and the realities behind claims of species restoration.

Takeaways

  • 🐺 Colossal claims to have de-extincted the direwolf, but this is debated as misleading.
  • 🌱 The biodiversity crisis stems primarily from habitat destruction, not a lack of de-extinction.
  • 🧬 Creating synthetic species might have ecological consequences that need careful consideration.
  • 🔍 Multiplex gene editing allows for multiple genetic changes at once, raising ethical concerns.
  • 🗺️ The ecosystem that direwolves existed in no longer exists, questioning the reintroduction's feasibility.
  • 📚 Much of the science behind these claims is rooted in publicly funded research, highlighting the importance of transparency.
  • 🚨 The urgency of the biodiversity crisis poses a significant threat, with extinction rates on the rise.
  • 🎭 Using 'de-extinction' as marketing may detract from the scientific truth of creating new species.

Garis waktu

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    A biotechnology company named Colossal claims to have successfully de-extincted an animal—the first of its kind. However, the speaker expresses skepticism about this claim, suggesting that what has actually been created is a new species that has never existed before, rather than a true de-extinction.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The biodiversity crisis is intertwined with the climate crisis, but the primary issue lies in human encroachment on habitats rather than the lack of de-extinction efforts. The alarming projections about species extinction suggest that by 2050, half of all species could face the threat of extinction due to habitat loss and poaching, not de-extinction.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Colossal's project involves genetically modifying grey wolves to resemble dire wolves, yet the speaker argues that this does not truly equate to de-extinction. He compares the ecosystem to a Jenga puzzle, where extinction of a species leaves a gap that cannot simply be filled by creating an analogous species, as the species that once existed and interacted with it are no longer present.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    The use of modern technology allowed Colossal to collect usable DNA from ancient direwolf specimens. However, the speaker emphasizes the continued complexity of attempting to recreate a species that no longer fits into the modern ecosystem, articulating skepticism around whether the resulting creatures can be considered dire wolves or merely genetically modified grey wolves.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:29:19

    Finally, the speaker raises ethical concerns over the advancement of gene-editing technologies, discussing the implications of creating synthetic species and the potential consequences of such scientific endeavors while maintaining a skeptical but hopeful outlook on addressing biodiversity crises.

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Video Tanya Jawab

  • What is Colossal's claim regarding de-extinction?

    Colossal claims to have successfully de-extincted the direwolf, but this is contested as misleading.

  • What is the difference between de-extinction and creating a new species?

    De-extinction involves bringing back an extinct species, while creating a new species means genetically modifying existing species.

  • Why is the term 'de-extinction' criticized in this context?

    The narrator argues that 'de-extinction' is a marketing term, as the wolf created is more of a synthetic species than a true direwolf.

  • What are the ecological concerns associated with synthetic species?

    Synthetic species could disrupt existing ecosystems, as they may not fit into current ecological niches.

  • How does habitat destruction relate to the biodiversity crisis?

    The biodiversity crisis is mainly driven by human activities such as habitat encroachment, rather than a lack of de-extinction efforts.

  • What are multiplex gene editing and its implications?

    Multiplex gene editing allows for multiple gene changes at once, which could lead to new ethical concerns and unintended consequences.

  • What challenges exist in sequencing ancient DNA?

    Ancient DNA is often degraded, making it difficult to retrieve complete genomes for study.

  • How do public funding and private interests intersect in genetic research?

    The video suggests that much of the research behind Colossal's work is publicly funded, raising questions about accountability and accuracy.

  • What is the significance of using genetically modified greywolves?

    The greywolf is being modified to mimic direwolf traits, though they are genetically distinct and won't fill the same ecological niche.

  • Why is the biodiversity crisis described as an urgent issue?

    Scientists warn that human activities could lead to widespread species extinction if not addressed soon.

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Gulir Otomatis:
  • 00:00:00
    direwolves are back Or are they there's
  • 00:00:02
    a biotechnology company called Colossal
  • 00:00:05
    that is attempting to de-extinct various
  • 00:00:07
    animals And they have just claimed that
  • 00:00:09
    they have deextended their first animal
  • 00:00:11
    not just their first animal the first
  • 00:00:13
    animal to ever be deextincted And that
  • 00:00:16
    claim does not in my opinion hold up to
  • 00:00:19
    scrutiny However there are a number of
  • 00:00:22
    truly remarkable things that are part of
  • 00:00:24
    this announcement that allow me to still
  • 00:00:27
    be excited about it despite the fact
  • 00:00:29
    that I think they're saying some stuff
  • 00:00:32
    that they shouldn't say So this video is
  • 00:00:35
    the good the bad and the straight up
  • 00:00:37
    wrong of this announcement And the
  • 00:00:40
    realization that we are all going to
  • 00:00:42
    come to in the end here is that what was
  • 00:00:45
    done is in some ways more remarkable but
  • 00:00:49
    also almost certainly more scary than
  • 00:00:52
    deextinction Because if you could say
  • 00:00:55
    that a species was created here it is a
  • 00:00:58
    species that has never existed before
  • 00:01:01
    This is not bringing a species back This
  • 00:01:04
    is the wholesale creation of a new
  • 00:01:06
    species by humans
  • 00:01:10
    of large
  • 00:01:11
    mammal And that is indeed new But there
  • 00:01:15
    is so much here that I feel like the way
  • 00:01:17
    to get through it all is to just watch
  • 00:01:20
    the video that announced this and I'm
  • 00:01:22
    going to react to little pieces of it
  • 00:01:25
    bit by bit Everyone likes to talk about
  • 00:01:27
    the climate crisis but we are actually
  • 00:01:29
    in a biodiversity crisis So I don't know
  • 00:01:31
    that everybody does like to talk about
  • 00:01:32
    the climate crisis Uh but I I do think
  • 00:01:35
    that it is right to say that we are in a
  • 00:01:38
    these twin crises of biodiversity crisis
  • 00:01:40
    and the climate crisis that of course
  • 00:01:42
    intersect with each other The climate
  • 00:01:43
    crisis has huge impacts on biodiversity
  • 00:01:46
    but I think a lot of people might think
  • 00:01:47
    that it's the biggest factor in it and
  • 00:01:49
    it's not the biggest factor in the
  • 00:01:50
    biodiversity crisis human use of habitat
  • 00:01:54
    basically So like encroachment on
  • 00:01:55
    habitat poaching that kind of stuff Is
  • 00:01:57
    this the right way to take on the
  • 00:01:58
    biodiversity crisis is the problem that
  • 00:02:01
    no one is deextincting animals no like I
  • 00:02:04
    don't think that this guy would say that
  • 00:02:05
    the problem is no one is deextincting
  • 00:02:06
    animals The problem is that humans
  • 00:02:08
    continue to encroach on more and more
  • 00:02:10
    habitat every year We're doing it slower
  • 00:02:12
    than we used to especially per capita
  • 00:02:14
    but we're still doing it Some scientists
  • 00:02:16
    have estimated that by 2050 half of all
  • 00:02:18
    species that are alive today will be
  • 00:02:20
    extinct So 2050 is 25 years away I don't
  • 00:02:23
    know that any scientists have made this
  • 00:02:25
    claim It would be really weird to me if
  • 00:02:27
    they had but I'm going to Google it Oh
  • 00:02:30
    Uh so here it is Biologists think 50% of
  • 00:02:33
    species will be facing extinction by the
  • 00:02:35
    end of the century Currently one in 10
  • 00:02:36
    are facing extinction So that's not
  • 00:02:39
    extinct That's that's in danger of
  • 00:02:41
    becoming extinct And I can believe that
  • 00:02:43
    And I could see how that stat could get
  • 00:02:46
    translated a in conversations to half of
  • 00:02:49
    species alive today will be extinct by
  • 00:02:51
    2050 And please do not take this as me
  • 00:02:54
    saying that this isn't a problem We
  • 00:02:55
    don't need to face it Obviously we need
  • 00:02:57
    to face it It's just a fact that I
  • 00:02:58
    wanted to check uh because it seemed off
  • 00:03:00
    to me And indeed it it is off but like
  • 00:03:03
    whatever Is this the world's first de
  • 00:03:05
    extinction no I don't see any reason why
  • 00:03:06
    these animals would not be considered a
  • 00:03:08
    greywolves They are genetically modified
  • 00:03:10
    greywolves If you would consider them a
  • 00:03:11
    separate species then you would have to
  • 00:03:12
    consider them a synthetic species and
  • 00:03:14
    you would not consider them to be a
  • 00:03:16
    species or even a relative of direwolves
  • 00:03:20
    but whatever People think it's a scary
  • 00:03:21
    word the extinction They immediately put
  • 00:03:24
    us with Jurassic Park and it's it's not
  • 00:03:26
    In the circles I travel in the
  • 00:03:28
    extinction isn't about isn't scary
  • 00:03:29
    because of Jurassic Park It's scary
  • 00:03:31
    because like we're trying to figure out
  • 00:03:33
    how to do
  • 00:03:35
    ecosystems and the ecosystems are very
  • 00:03:37
    flexible and mobile and when something
  • 00:03:39
    comes out of an ecosystem that can cause
  • 00:03:40
    problems and trying to put it back in
  • 00:03:42
    once it's been gone for a long time can
  • 00:03:44
    also cause problems I'm not actually
  • 00:03:47
    personally opposed to the idea of
  • 00:03:48
    deextinction I know lots of people who
  • 00:03:50
    are um and but I think that that's a
  • 00:03:52
    really it's an active conversation that
  • 00:03:54
    we're not going to have right now But
  • 00:03:56
    like that's not because people think
  • 00:03:58
    that like Newman from Seinfeld's gonna
  • 00:03:59
    get eaten by a dinosaur As we lose
  • 00:04:01
    species within an ecosystem if you think
  • 00:04:03
    of a Jenga puzzle you're sort of pulling
  • 00:04:05
    blocks out of there Those blocks that
  • 00:04:07
    are creating the instability in the
  • 00:04:08
    ecosystem is literally the function that
  • 00:04:10
    animal plays If we can find ways to
  • 00:04:13
    restore animals that provide that
  • 00:04:14
    specific function we can create more
  • 00:04:17
    stability within an ecosystem So this is
  • 00:04:20
    the argument that Colossal makes that
  • 00:04:22
    they have deextincted a direwolf This is
  • 00:04:24
    a cogent argument that I just don't
  • 00:04:25
    think is a good argument to make using
  • 00:04:28
    the word de-extinction I think using the
  • 00:04:30
    word de-extinction is really about
  • 00:04:32
    marketing in this case Uh and also it's
  • 00:04:34
    not about direwolves because we're not
  • 00:04:36
    going to put direwolves back in an
  • 00:04:37
    ecosystem that would benefit from them
  • 00:04:39
    because that ecosystem died out tens of
  • 00:04:41
    thousands of years ago So like very few
  • 00:04:42
    of the animals that direwolves would
  • 00:04:43
    prey on still exist for example But the
  • 00:04:45
    argument that they're making with this
  • 00:04:46
    extinction is that we have these Django
  • 00:04:48
    blocks and we're pulling blocks out and
  • 00:04:50
    if you can slide another block in there
  • 00:04:52
    then the ecosystem won't collapse as
  • 00:04:53
    long as it fills that same niche as long
  • 00:04:55
    as it fits into that Jenga block spot
  • 00:04:57
    And it's not just like every block is
  • 00:04:59
    the same size There's lots of all
  • 00:05:01
    different sizes of Jenga blocks that are
  • 00:05:02
    all moving around and all evolving to
  • 00:05:06
    exist with each other This is an okay
  • 00:05:08
    metaphor Actually imagine a Jenga tower
  • 00:05:10
    that's made out of millions of blocks
  • 00:05:12
    that are constantly moving and
  • 00:05:14
    responding to each other And if you take
  • 00:05:16
    out a big one there will not be time for
  • 00:05:19
    the blocks to react to each other and
  • 00:05:21
    the ecosystem may collapse And so you
  • 00:05:22
    want to slot one in real quick And in
  • 00:05:24
    that case what you could do is you
  • 00:05:27
    wouldn't have to grab the existing
  • 00:05:29
    animal that went extinct you could
  • 00:05:32
    create an animal that serves that same
  • 00:05:34
    niche that is close enough to that blob
  • 00:05:38
    that you can plop it in there and then
  • 00:05:39
    the ecosystem will recover And that's
  • 00:05:41
    why they're making the case that these
  • 00:05:42
    wolves are a deextinction because
  • 00:05:45
    theoretically they might be direwolf
  • 00:05:48
    shaped enough that they would slot into
  • 00:05:50
    the direwolfshaped hole left behind by
  • 00:05:53
    the actual direwolves that went extinct
  • 00:05:55
    Now I am going to explain why these
  • 00:05:57
    aren't direwolves I can't just say that
  • 00:05:59
    I know that It's just that we haven't
  • 00:06:01
    reached that point in the video yet Now
  • 00:06:02
    I wouldn't say that slotting in a
  • 00:06:04
    different species into a niche is
  • 00:06:06
    deextinction I do understand how it
  • 00:06:08
    could be a functional good in ecosystem
  • 00:06:11
    ecology but it also sounds very hard And
  • 00:06:14
    also all the other jingle blocks around
  • 00:06:15
    it are going to react differently to
  • 00:06:16
    that block that you just slotted in than
  • 00:06:18
    they would to the original species And
  • 00:06:19
    you and you will not you will not in
  • 00:06:21
    that case have made extinction a thing
  • 00:06:23
    of the past That extinction will still
  • 00:06:24
    have happened I think that 50 100 years
  • 00:06:26
    from now there's going to be a lot more
  • 00:06:28
    habitat available on this earth for
  • 00:06:30
    wilderness And I think that these
  • 00:06:32
    conversations probably will have had
  • 00:06:34
    value at that point because there will
  • 00:06:37
    be ecosystem engineering going on And
  • 00:06:39
    part of that is going to be genetic
  • 00:06:40
    modification and species engineering and
  • 00:06:43
    synthetic species And we are having
  • 00:06:44
    those conversations now because we're
  • 00:06:45
    going to have to figure it out then and
  • 00:06:47
    we're going to be fighting about it the
  • 00:06:48
    whole time I promise you So in this
  • 00:06:49
    section of the video we're going to talk
  • 00:06:50
    about wolves in Yellowstone National
  • 00:06:52
    Park I think that this is weird because
  • 00:06:54
    it makes you think that the genetically
  • 00:06:55
    modified wolves that they have created
  • 00:06:57
    are going to be part of a project like
  • 00:06:59
    this but they aren't going to be and
  • 00:07:00
    they should not be and they should not
  • 00:07:01
    be released into the wild because the
  • 00:07:02
    niche that they would have filled in the
  • 00:07:03
    former place to see in Americas does not
  • 00:07:05
    exist anymore You don't you would not
  • 00:07:06
    want direwolves walking around in the
  • 00:07:08
    wild uh because there's no food for them
  • 00:07:10
    But the utility here there is utility
  • 00:07:12
    here One is potential economic utility
  • 00:07:14
    of having a little theme park But number
  • 00:07:15
    two is proof of concept for technologies
  • 00:07:18
    And we're going to get to those
  • 00:07:19
    technologies but this has nothing to do
  • 00:07:20
    with that because you're not we're
  • 00:07:22
    talking about wolves but these wolves
  • 00:07:24
    are not going to be reintroduced to the
  • 00:07:26
    wild And there is no niche for them
  • 00:07:27
    because all the food that they ate is
  • 00:07:29
    extinct It has been for thousands of
  • 00:07:31
    years We thought if we could use it as
  • 00:07:33
    an opportunity where we can also develop
  • 00:07:35
    technologies that can help wolves we
  • 00:07:36
    thought it was the right first project
  • 00:07:38
    given how important wolves are to
  • 00:07:40
    ecosystems Now you can make the case
  • 00:07:42
    that it's important to do this with
  • 00:07:44
    wolves because wolves are important to
  • 00:07:46
    ecosystems and there are other wolves
  • 00:07:48
    that are weirdly not mentioned in this
  • 00:07:50
    video that can potentially benefit from
  • 00:07:52
    some of the research being done here and
  • 00:07:54
    are like it's weird that this isn't
  • 00:07:56
    mentioned in this video but Colossal has
  • 00:07:58
    also cloned redwolf coyote hybrids with
  • 00:08:02
    the intent of having a species to fill
  • 00:08:05
    that niche in America in the United
  • 00:08:08
    States in places where there were once
  • 00:08:10
    red wolves and there no longer are We've
  • 00:08:12
    done stuff like that like we've done it
  • 00:08:13
    with Shiovelski's horse where we you
  • 00:08:14
    know had a Shiovolki horse be basically
  • 00:08:16
    have the embryo of a Shiovski horse
  • 00:08:18
    implanted into a domestic horse and now
  • 00:08:20
    we have more Shiovolski horses in the
  • 00:08:22
    world and that's good because that's a
  • 00:08:24
    natural species of horse that should be
  • 00:08:26
    in their ecosystem There's niches for
  • 00:08:28
    them to exist inside of because they are
  • 00:08:29
    very recently have left those niches and
  • 00:08:32
    predators and wolves are very important
  • 00:08:34
    to ecosystems and doing this work with
  • 00:08:36
    red wolves could potentially have
  • 00:08:38
    benefit I just don't know why it's not
  • 00:08:39
    mentioned in this video You haven't
  • 00:08:40
    heard about it You haven't heard the
  • 00:08:41
    colossal cloned red wolves as part of
  • 00:08:43
    this I don't know why not One of the
  • 00:08:45
    challenges when we started working on
  • 00:08:46
    the direwolf was that we knew of only
  • 00:08:48
    two direwolf specimens in the world that
  • 00:08:50
    contained some usable DNA All right Now
  • 00:08:53
    this is like a legitimately cool I'm
  • 00:08:54
    excited about it part of the thing where
  • 00:08:56
    they found enough direwolf DNA Um and it
  • 00:08:59
    wasn't just them Like I think that there
  • 00:09:01
    are researchers who work with Colossal
  • 00:09:03
    and are on this research but then there
  • 00:09:04
    are people who are just at Colossal or
  • 00:09:06
    just on this research or whatever We've
  • 00:09:08
    have tons of direwolf skulls from the
  • 00:09:09
    Labraa tarpits but because it's a tarpit
  • 00:09:11
    the all the DNA is super degraded You're
  • 00:09:13
    not going to get anything off of those
  • 00:09:15
    But we have found a couple of specimens
  • 00:09:17
    of direwolves One is I think 12,000
  • 00:09:20
    years ago one's like almost 80,000 years
  • 00:09:22
    old And and we've gotten I think from
  • 00:09:25
    the older one we actually got more DNA
  • 00:09:28
    That's a long time ago to get usable DNA
  • 00:09:31
    to get not just all of the direwolf
  • 00:09:34
    genome but like multiple copies of it so
  • 00:09:36
    that you can fill in a lot of the gaps
  • 00:09:37
    You're not going to get one solid
  • 00:09:39
    unbroken genome but you could get
  • 00:09:41
    multiples so that you can do a bunch of
  • 00:09:44
    computer analysis and have basically a
  • 00:09:46
    full direwolf genome And that's amazing
  • 00:09:49
    That's really cool And there's other
  • 00:09:50
    cool stuff that they're about to do with
  • 00:09:51
    that genome that we're going to talk
  • 00:09:52
    about too This video by the way is
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    internet which is good All right now
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    we're going back into the video here
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    There was a massive study that did many
  • 00:10:58
    samples across multiple institutions It
  • 00:11:01
    was a collaborative effort I'm glad that
  • 00:11:02
    they said that It would have been nice
  • 00:11:03
    for them to actually name the
  • 00:11:04
    institutions um because I'm sure that
  • 00:11:06
    this science was funded by the federal
  • 00:11:08
    government funding science So what you
  • 00:11:10
    can do is you can map that to its
  • 00:11:12
    closest living relative So at Colossal
  • 00:11:15
    we're using the grey wolf So this is a
  • 00:11:17
    very interesting moment in the video to
  • 00:11:19
    me This woman has said uh we're going to
  • 00:11:22
    map that to its closest living relative
  • 00:11:24
    And then the next line is so colossal
  • 00:11:27
    using the greywolf And that indicates to
  • 00:11:29
    me if like you would listen to that and
  • 00:11:32
    think that the greywolf is the closest
  • 00:11:34
    living relative of the direwolf It would
  • 00:11:37
    seem looking especially just at the
  • 00:11:39
    skeletons that direwolves and greywolves
  • 00:11:41
    are closely related to each other But
  • 00:11:44
    from our current understanding a paper
  • 00:11:46
    published in 2021 that looked at the DNA
  • 00:11:49
    of direwolves that isn't just like a
  • 00:11:52
    little bit wrong It's like wildly wrong
  • 00:11:54
    Paper is called direwolves were the last
  • 00:11:56
    of an ancient new world lineage There
  • 00:11:59
    are many authors on this paper including
  • 00:12:01
    some people who work at Colossal And the
  • 00:12:03
    findings from that paper are that
  • 00:12:04
    direwolves and greywolves diverged Like
  • 00:12:06
    their last common ancestor was was
  • 00:12:08
    almost 6 million years ago The most
  • 00:12:10
    recent common ancestor between chimps
  • 00:12:12
    and humans was between 6 and 7 million
  • 00:12:14
    years ago So not that far back but like
  • 00:12:18
    close As much as I love a chimpanzeee
  • 00:12:20
    and sometimes I see a chimpanzeee
  • 00:12:21
    skeleton and I'm like that's just a
  • 00:12:22
    little person They're not They're
  • 00:12:24
    different Very different species Now
  • 00:12:27
    sometimes for a very long time many
  • 00:12:29
    traits can be conserved and but that
  • 00:12:31
    doesn't actually seem to be what
  • 00:12:32
    happened here If so if this was 5
  • 00:12:34
    million years ago that this diverged
  • 00:12:36
    then that common ancestor gave rise to
  • 00:12:38
    jackals African wild dogs and wolves
  • 00:12:41
    which are all fairly different species
  • 00:12:43
    and the direwolf would be closer in
  • 00:12:45
    relation to jackals than to wolves And
  • 00:12:48
    then what would have happened is that
  • 00:12:50
    they would they convergently evolved to
  • 00:12:52
    have very similar body shapes to grey
  • 00:12:55
    wolves because they were living in a
  • 00:12:56
    similar habitat and hunting in similar
  • 00:12:58
    ways The people at Colossal are just
  • 00:12:59
    rejecting this wholesale They are saying
  • 00:13:02
    this is not the case Greywolves are the
  • 00:13:04
    closest living relative of direwolves
  • 00:13:06
    and they say that they have evidence but
  • 00:13:07
    they have not provided that evidence
  • 00:13:09
    which I find annoying It also like kind
  • 00:13:11
    of is a big part of your argument here
  • 00:13:13
    Like if direwolves are just giant
  • 00:13:15
    jackals they're probably going to look
  • 00:13:16
    pretty different from greywolves And so
  • 00:13:18
    the thing you've just created in order
  • 00:13:20
    to try and make it look like a direwolf
  • 00:13:22
    doesn't actually look like a direwolf It
  • 00:13:24
    looks like a large greywolf And
  • 00:13:26
    direwolves would be very different
  • 00:13:28
    because they diverged and have not
  • 00:13:29
    shared a common ancestor with greywolves
  • 00:13:32
    for 6 million years But the people at
  • 00:13:34
    Colossal do have a great direwolf DNA
  • 00:13:37
    sequence And so maybe they've done
  • 00:13:40
    science And I would love to see them
  • 00:13:41
    release the science where they talk
  • 00:13:43
    about how they have proved that there
  • 00:13:45
    was this old lineage but then it
  • 00:13:47
    interbred which specifically the 2021
  • 00:13:50
    paper said this there was no gene flow
  • 00:13:53
    between direwolves and greywolves but
  • 00:13:56
    they are arguing with that but they are
  • 00:13:58
    not releasing the data that has led them
  • 00:14:00
    to argue against that and I am I think
  • 00:14:03
    understandably skeptical of it because
  • 00:14:06
    it's a better
  • 00:14:08
    story if the greywolf is the nearest
  • 00:14:10
    relative of the direwolf And this is
  • 00:14:12
    weird to like say a bunch of stuff about
  • 00:14:14
    a paper before you publish it What
  • 00:14:15
    they're saying is that there's like this
  • 00:14:16
    older species that it's its closest
  • 00:14:19
    living relative is like jackals And but
  • 00:14:21
    then that species interbred with
  • 00:14:23
    greywolves And so that makes this and
  • 00:14:26
    this is the thing about taxonomy It's
  • 00:14:28
    messy But what they're saying is from
  • 00:14:30
    the information they have from these two
  • 00:14:32
    individuals that there's this old one
  • 00:14:34
    that was then interbred with a greywolf
  • 00:14:37
    two and a half million years ago And
  • 00:14:39
    that is what gave birth to the direwolf
  • 00:14:40
    species which is totally possible That's
  • 00:14:42
    like a thing that happens And who is the
  • 00:14:44
    closest living relative in that
  • 00:14:45
    situation it's difficult to say right
  • 00:14:47
    you can tell that they cut out something
  • 00:14:49
    between when this woman said "So what
  • 00:14:51
    you can do is you can map that to its
  • 00:14:53
    closest living relative and then when
  • 00:14:55
    she says "So at Colossal we're using the
  • 00:14:57
    greywolf." And I think I think there was
  • 00:15:00
    something in there that was probably her
  • 00:15:02
    providing some context When you're doing
  • 00:15:05
    what the biologist said earlier where
  • 00:15:07
    you're trying to create something that
  • 00:15:08
    fits into a niche rather than trying to
  • 00:15:10
    actually de-extinct an animal that makes
  • 00:15:12
    sense But in this case you're not trying
  • 00:15:13
    to do either of those things What you're
  • 00:15:14
    trying to do is create something that's
  • 00:15:16
    cool and exciting and that you can make
  • 00:15:18
    the case that you're creating this
  • 00:15:20
    amazing thing And also you're trying to
  • 00:15:21
    prove concept of a bunch of different
  • 00:15:23
    technologies You're trying to develop a
  • 00:15:24
    bunch of technologies that are going to
  • 00:15:25
    be useful in this which they they did do
  • 00:15:27
    both of those things When we edit
  • 00:15:29
    different lines of genetically diverse
  • 00:15:31
    greywolves we'll create a set of
  • 00:15:33
    genetically diverse direwolves with
  • 00:15:35
    similar edits but the basis of their
  • 00:15:38
    diversity already existed within the
  • 00:15:40
    greywolf So this section is interesting
  • 00:15:41
    because I don't think it's un like it's
  • 00:15:43
    not explained why it's important but
  • 00:15:45
    because they can do this over and over
  • 00:15:47
    again with different wolves that are
  • 00:15:48
    genetically diverse you're not going to
  • 00:15:49
    end up in a species bottleneck with just
  • 00:15:52
    like a very small number of direwolves
  • 00:15:54
    Direwolves of these genetically modified
  • 00:15:56
    wolves could potentially be in a
  • 00:15:57
    situation where there would be plenty of
  • 00:15:59
    genetic diversity for them to exist on
  • 00:16:01
    their own But again you wouldn't release
  • 00:16:03
    these into the wild because the niche
  • 00:16:07
    that you are trying to replace them in
  • 00:16:09
    doesn't exist We've developed a
  • 00:16:10
    technology where you can take a simple
  • 00:16:12
    blood draw isolate these specific cells
  • 00:16:15
    in the blood and then clone from it So
  • 00:16:17
    this is the first of two big pieces of
  • 00:16:19
    science news and that is that they were
  • 00:16:21
    able to find specific cells in blood
  • 00:16:25
    that they can use to create a cell line
  • 00:16:27
    So the way that cells work is that you
  • 00:16:29
    can take them out of a body and grow
  • 00:16:30
    them in a petri dish for a little while
  • 00:16:32
    but then they die But there are specific
  • 00:16:34
    cells in the body stem cells cancer
  • 00:16:36
    cells you know certain kinds of cells
  • 00:16:38
    that you can actually create a cell line
  • 00:16:39
    out of that's immortal that will last a
  • 00:16:41
    really long time So usually in order to
  • 00:16:42
    find those cells you'd have to do a
  • 00:16:44
    pretty invasive tissue sample But in
  • 00:16:46
    this case they figured out how to do it
  • 00:16:48
    with blood which is awesome I don't know
  • 00:16:49
    if this is their advance but it's a big
  • 00:16:52
    that's great This is cool for sure It's
  • 00:16:54
    going to be great for dog cloning If
  • 00:16:56
    people want to have their same dog over
  • 00:16:58
    again this will make that easier We're
  • 00:16:59
    changing the genome of this living
  • 00:17:01
    animal partially into the genome of the
  • 00:17:04
    extinct animal for those genes that
  • 00:17:05
    matter for the traits and
  • 00:17:07
    characteristics uh that we want to see
  • 00:17:09
    What he's saying here is is what traits
  • 00:17:11
    and characteristics do we want to see in
  • 00:17:12
    the animal we're going to pick uh genes
  • 00:17:14
    that affect those And this is another
  • 00:17:16
    cool part of what Colossal is doing
  • 00:17:19
    which is not just taking a genome and
  • 00:17:21
    being like okay we have to get this
  • 00:17:22
    whole genome into this other animal but
  • 00:17:24
    saying okay which what things actually
  • 00:17:26
    uh code for traits grabbing those and
  • 00:17:28
    putting them in the wolves And that's
  • 00:17:30
    difficult work to do uh and and requires
  • 00:17:34
    a lot of knowledge that is relatively
  • 00:17:36
    new Even in humans this would be hard to
  • 00:17:37
    do And we have a lot more information
  • 00:17:38
    about human genomes than we do about
  • 00:17:40
    wolf genomes Discovering which parts of
  • 00:17:42
    the genome make an animal look and act
  • 00:17:44
    like that animal is one of the hardest
  • 00:17:46
    problems in biology It is unsolved and
  • 00:17:50
    something that we have to solve if we
  • 00:17:52
    want to know which parts of the genome
  • 00:17:54
    we want to edit to make a greywolf more
  • 00:17:56
    like a direwolf She said it here Make a
  • 00:17:58
    greywolf look more like a direwolf
  • 00:18:00
    That's what they're actually doing So
  • 00:18:01
    good on her to analyze our genomes to
  • 00:18:04
    compare direwolves with greywolf genomes
  • 00:18:07
    Uh we use our tools on a platform built
  • 00:18:10
    by formbio So formbio is this is a
  • 00:18:14
    spin-off company from colossal and it is
  • 00:18:17
    built to try and find the the actual
  • 00:18:20
    genes that are going to most affect the
  • 00:18:22
    outcome that they are going that they're
  • 00:18:25
    trying to have So they're not trying to
  • 00:18:26
    deextinct anybody They're trying to
  • 00:18:28
    create this blob that fits into the
  • 00:18:30
    right Jenga spot And so they want to
  • 00:18:33
    find the genes that help the blob be the
  • 00:18:35
    right shape to fit in That allowed us to
  • 00:18:37
    know exactly where the greywolf differed
  • 00:18:40
    from the direwolf Each time you edit a
  • 00:18:42
    gene in a cell you put a lot of stress
  • 00:18:44
    on that cell because you have to get
  • 00:18:46
    your gene editing tools in these cells
  • 00:18:48
    and these changes are made So what we do
  • 00:18:50
    instead is we try to make dozens or
  • 00:18:52
    hundreds of changes at once It's called
  • 00:18:54
    multiplex gene editing This is another
  • 00:18:55
    actually cool thing So we've got
  • 00:18:57
    multiplex crisper going on here
  • 00:18:59
    Multiplex gene editing many sites at the
  • 00:19:02
    same time So Crisper comes in and it
  • 00:19:03
    like grabs a gene and it swaps it out
  • 00:19:05
    for something else or just a segment of
  • 00:19:07
    code Doesn't have to be a whole gene and
  • 00:19:09
    it swaps it out for something else And
  • 00:19:10
    you don't want to do that over and over
  • 00:19:11
    and over again if you want to make a
  • 00:19:12
    bunch of changes And in some cases you
  • 00:19:13
    do want to make a bunch of changes
  • 00:19:14
    because often times a disease is not
  • 00:19:16
    caused by one single gene It's caused by
  • 00:19:18
    several genes interacting in a bad way
  • 00:19:20
    And you can swap that one gene and maybe
  • 00:19:21
    that'll be good And like that will cure
  • 00:19:23
    people of certain diseases Some g dis
  • 00:19:25
    diseases are like single nucleotide
  • 00:19:28
    problems You just need to swip swip one
  • 00:19:30
    thing and you're good You need to swip a
  • 00:19:32
    snip and that you're good But if you
  • 00:19:33
    want to do a bunch say if you want to
  • 00:19:36
    create an animal that's quite different
  • 00:19:37
    or genetically modify a crop so that it
  • 00:19:39
    has a bunch of advantageous traits um
  • 00:19:41
    like you can there's ways to do that now
  • 00:19:43
    but this would be faster you know to be
  • 00:19:45
    able to modify like 20 different sites
  • 00:19:48
    in the same moment Now you're also going
  • 00:19:51
    to introduce more chances for problems
  • 00:19:53
    in that situation but ultimately I think
  • 00:19:55
    it's like a good direction to go in It
  • 00:19:57
    does is worrying from like the designer
  • 00:19:58
    babies perspective like if we can make a
  • 00:20:01
    bunch of changes to and I don't think
  • 00:20:03
    like we're there's a huge taboo and and
  • 00:20:05
    lots of legal reasons why we can't do
  • 00:20:08
    this but like it's getting so easy to do
  • 00:20:09
    technologically that I do worry that
  • 00:20:11
    some just like that guy in China went
  • 00:20:13
    rogue and and did a little bit of gene
  • 00:20:15
    editing on babies It makes me think that
  • 00:20:18
    like the next time that happens will be
  • 00:20:20
    more significant and and more worrying
  • 00:20:22
    and and be pretty escalatory It's one
  • 00:20:24
    thing to have a baby get born who is has
  • 00:20:28
    a lower chance of getting HIV which is
  • 00:20:29
    what those editors were about It's
  • 00:20:31
    another to have a baby be born who's
  • 00:20:32
    going to be you know never lose their
  • 00:20:35
    hair is going to be 6'7 is going to be
  • 00:20:38
    extra strong extra smart all this stuff
  • 00:20:41
    that will actually create um I think
  • 00:20:43
    probably a lot of discourse that will
  • 00:20:46
    drive us in a in an uncertain direction
  • 00:20:48
    So and now this section of the video
  • 00:20:50
    they're talking about how to actually
  • 00:20:52
    get the egg turned into a baby that's
  • 00:20:54
    going to be born out of a dog Um and
  • 00:20:56
    that's you know about that That's how
  • 00:20:58
    Dolly was made So we're going to skip
  • 00:20:59
    over this part And with the help of a
  • 00:21:01
    vet team we then are able to surgically
  • 00:21:03
    put this embryo back inside to the
  • 00:21:05
    surrogate dog This isn't discussed in
  • 00:21:07
    this video but one thing that I do want
  • 00:21:09
    to talk about is that so there were some
  • 00:21:11
    genes that were that gene in direwolves
  • 00:21:13
    From what I understand they are actually
  • 00:21:15
    the genes that were in direwolves that
  • 00:21:16
    were swapped out with the greywolf gene
  • 00:21:18
    But then there were also some genes that
  • 00:21:20
    they wanted to switch out but they
  • 00:21:22
    decided not to because they knew that
  • 00:21:23
    those genes could be associated with
  • 00:21:25
    with other diseases like blindness or
  • 00:21:28
    loss of hearing or something And so they
  • 00:21:30
    didn't want to mess with those genes So
  • 00:21:32
    instead they made those changes by
  • 00:21:34
    adding in those traits elsewhere or with
  • 00:21:36
    other genes that they knew they weren't
  • 00:21:38
    going to be associated with problems And
  • 00:21:39
    I think that's like a responsible
  • 00:21:41
    ethical way to handle that And it all
  • 00:21:42
    comes back to the fact that they're not
  • 00:21:44
    trying to create direwolves They're
  • 00:21:45
    trying to create something that would be
  • 00:21:47
    more likely to fit into a direwolfshaped
  • 00:21:50
    hole in an ecosystem which again does
  • 00:21:52
    not exist in any current ecosystems
  • 00:21:54
    because direwolves have been extinct for
  • 00:21:56
    over 10,000 years As well as are
  • 00:21:58
    pursuing on the science side our own
  • 00:22:00
    exogenous development team so that one
  • 00:22:02
    day we won't have to use circuits That's
  • 00:22:04
    wild That would be the biggest advance
  • 00:22:06
    that they're trying to work on is to be
  • 00:22:08
    able to have a a baby mammal be born
  • 00:22:12
    without uh a surrogate So so so not
  • 00:22:16
    especially this is a placental mammal
  • 00:22:17
    Like you could kind of see this with
  • 00:22:19
    marsupials but with a placental mammal
  • 00:22:22
    how do you have a baby be born without a
  • 00:22:24
    mother i guess someday we'll get there
  • 00:22:26
    but that like that's wild We're a part
  • 00:22:29
    of the evolutionary stream of the planet
  • 00:22:31
    We're kin to every other species out
  • 00:22:34
    there So this is wild I took a class
  • 00:22:36
    from this guy at University of Montana
  • 00:22:38
    What I can tell you about Dan from
  • 00:22:40
    having taken a class from Dan Flores is
  • 00:22:42
    this dude loves wolves He loves wolves
  • 00:22:44
    in like a biological and scientific way
  • 00:22:47
    He also loves wolves in like a spiritual
  • 00:22:49
    way What we do today is I think what the
  • 00:22:51
    hope for the future is for biodiversity
  • 00:22:53
    and for nature And so to be on sort of
  • 00:22:55
    the ground floor of creating a tool that
  • 00:22:58
    will be the solution for our
  • 00:23:00
    biodiversity crisis I'm going to
  • 00:23:01
    complain about using the phrase the
  • 00:23:03
    solution to our biodiversity crisis
  • 00:23:05
    because again the problem is not that we
  • 00:23:07
    can't de-extinct animals The problem is
  • 00:23:10
    that we continue to encroach on habitats
  • 00:23:13
    of animals and also that the climate is
  • 00:23:16
    changing There's going to be many
  • 00:23:17
    solutions to this problem and I applaud
  • 00:23:19
    people for exploring various solutions A
  • 00:23:22
    little bit of what sticks in my craw
  • 00:23:24
    about this is how much of what is has
  • 00:23:29
    been done here was done by publicly
  • 00:23:31
    funded science and then applied in a new
  • 00:23:34
    and a novel and like important way like
  • 00:23:36
    over and over again if you look at the
  • 00:23:38
    stuff that has gone on here Let's like I
  • 00:23:40
    made a list So sequencing ancient DNA
  • 00:23:43
    we've been at that for a long time and
  • 00:23:45
    that's publicly funded research from
  • 00:23:47
    universities funded largely by
  • 00:23:49
    government grants has got the the whole
  • 00:23:51
    direwolf genome creation that was a big
  • 00:23:53
    nature paper that lots of people
  • 00:23:54
    collaborated in at universities all over
  • 00:23:56
    the place again publicly funded crisper
  • 00:23:58
    publicly funded and continues to like
  • 00:24:01
    its advancement continues to be publicly
  • 00:24:03
    funded sematic cell nuclear transfer
  • 00:24:05
    publicly funded research uh in academia
  • 00:24:08
    multiplex gene editing with crisper at
  • 00:24:10
    many different sites all at once that's
  • 00:24:12
    also something that was done first in
  • 00:24:14
    academia and then applied in a different
  • 00:24:17
    and novel and difficult context by
  • 00:24:19
    colossal Same thing with the ability to
  • 00:24:21
    derive clonable cells from blood That's
  • 00:24:24
    something that was established through
  • 00:24:26
    publicly funded money in academia and
  • 00:24:28
    then applied to a new use case by
  • 00:24:31
    colossal using bioinformatics for trait
  • 00:24:33
    selection Absolutely Something
  • 00:24:35
    established by academia and the direwolf
  • 00:24:37
    reference genome that they're using and
  • 00:24:39
    also potentially whatever research they
  • 00:24:41
    did that is indicating the greywolf
  • 00:24:42
    might be a closer ancestor for whatever
  • 00:24:44
    reason That's all research that seems to
  • 00:24:46
    have been done in-house at Colossal
  • 00:24:48
    There's not nothing here It's just it's
  • 00:24:51
    hard to celebrate science when you're
  • 00:24:54
    constrained by the truth in ways that
  • 00:24:56
    these people aren't Obviously everyone
  • 00:24:59
    in this video was told that they have to
  • 00:25:01
    say that direwolves are back And of
  • 00:25:03
    course I feel like a stick in the mud I
  • 00:25:05
    feel that part of my job is popularizing
  • 00:25:08
    science but a bigger part of my job is
  • 00:25:09
    saying true things And so I can't sit
  • 00:25:12
    here and tell you that direwolves have
  • 00:25:14
    been deextincted when in reality there
  • 00:25:15
    are a few greywolves that have been
  • 00:25:17
    genetically modified to more closely
  • 00:25:18
    resemble direwolves in a thoughtful way
  • 00:25:21
    But like that's not a direwolf And what
  • 00:25:23
    I know is that organisms are
  • 00:25:25
    extraordinarily complicated And if you
  • 00:25:27
    change 20 genes in the course of
  • 00:25:29
    actually evolving those 20 changes a
  • 00:25:31
    bunch of other stuff's going to happen
  • 00:25:32
    that are going to look like they don't
  • 00:25:34
    matter but probably do matter You know
  • 00:25:36
    if you get bigger you have to have more
  • 00:25:39
    systems for controlling cancer because
  • 00:25:40
    you have more cells So these genetically
  • 00:25:42
    modified wolves might be much more prone
  • 00:25:44
    to getting cancer because they gave them
  • 00:25:45
    the get big gene but they didn't do all
  • 00:25:48
    the little subtle tweaks to the rest of
  • 00:25:50
    the genome that would allow for that
  • 00:25:52
    genome to happen while keeping the
  • 00:25:55
    natural lifespan the same length or or
  • 00:25:58
    even longer as tends to happen with
  • 00:26:00
    larger organisms That's not like a thing
  • 00:26:02
    that's definitely going to happen just
  • 00:26:03
    to be clear But it's an example of like
  • 00:26:04
    the reality of the complexity of
  • 00:26:06
    organisms You can't like put 20 human
  • 00:26:08
    genes in a chimpanzeee and get a human
  • 00:26:10
    obviously So I think it's really cool
  • 00:26:12
    but I also think that it's an example of
  • 00:26:14
    like the trouble you get into when you
  • 00:26:16
    want science to be privately funded
  • 00:26:19
    where you have to be doing things that
  • 00:26:21
    like excite billionaires And so you end
  • 00:26:23
    up in a situation where like maybe there
  • 00:26:25
    was a better candidate for all of these
  • 00:26:27
    things but they also have to have a
  • 00:26:30
    candidate that's splashy and that makes
  • 00:26:32
    headlines and that it you know Peter
  • 00:26:33
    Jackson can cuddle with a direwolf And
  • 00:26:36
    that creates incentives to do weird
  • 00:26:37
    stuff like saying that they have a paper
  • 00:26:40
    that that indicates that greywolves are
  • 00:26:43
    the closest ancestor to direwolves when
  • 00:26:45
    that's not the current established
  • 00:26:47
    understanding of the taxonomy here Maybe
  • 00:26:50
    it would be but the paper didn't come
  • 00:26:52
    out in time And so why isn't the paper
  • 00:26:54
    out if the paper exists why can't we see
  • 00:26:56
    it usually you wouldn't talk about the
  • 00:26:58
    results from a paper a bunch on a
  • 00:27:00
    subreddit before the paper gets
  • 00:27:03
    published And I think that it's
  • 00:27:04
    important to note that this company has
  • 00:27:06
    like a $10 billion valuation So there
  • 00:27:08
    has to be like a way that the investors
  • 00:27:11
    expect some some at some point that
  • 00:27:13
    money to come back to them There's a few
  • 00:27:14
    things that are like really exciting
  • 00:27:16
    like applying knowledge in new ways with
  • 00:27:19
    a large placental mammal lots of edits
  • 00:27:22
    leading to viable offspring a real
  • 00:27:25
    differently shaped organism in a way
  • 00:27:28
    that I don't think that you would make
  • 00:27:30
    the case that this is a new species but
  • 00:27:32
    if you did it's not going to be a
  • 00:27:35
    direwolf but it would be a synthetic
  • 00:27:37
    species I think contemplating the idea
  • 00:27:40
    of a synthetic species when you can do
  • 00:27:42
    multiplex gene editing We kind of have
  • 00:27:45
    to do that now I guess like if you can
  • 00:27:47
    do multiplex gene editing we have to
  • 00:27:49
    wrestle with the reality that we can now
  • 00:27:52
    probably create synthetic species
  • 00:27:55
    Synthetic species are on the table now
  • 00:27:57
    And it's not like they were taking
  • 00:27:59
    greywolf genes and putting them in
  • 00:28:00
    greywolves Like these are other genes
  • 00:28:02
    from other species that they're putting
  • 00:28:03
    in greywolves That's wild Like it's
  • 00:28:05
    amazing to but I think that talking
  • 00:28:07
    about creating a synthetic species would
  • 00:28:09
    be way like less exciting for a lot of
  • 00:28:13
    people Not just because it's really cool
  • 00:28:15
    to make a direwolf but because it's kind
  • 00:28:17
    of scary to make a synthetic species
  • 00:28:20
    Like it's totally seems probably fine to
  • 00:28:24
    a lot of folks who are you know not
  • 00:28:26
    thinking about biology and e ecology all
  • 00:28:28
    day long It probably seems pretty cool
  • 00:28:30
    to like bring back a species that used
  • 00:28:31
    to exist where it would probably feel to
  • 00:28:34
    a lot of those people a lot less cool to
  • 00:28:36
    talk about creating a species that has
  • 00:28:38
    never existed which is closer to what
  • 00:28:40
    Colossal just did And Colossal needs to
  • 00:28:43
    tell a story that's exciting for the
  • 00:28:45
    public exciting for their investors
  • 00:28:48
    makes it feel like they're making
  • 00:28:49
    progress in a way that like making a
  • 00:28:51
    woolly mouse which is something they
  • 00:28:53
    also did does not feel exciting like
  • 00:28:55
    they're incentivized to tell this
  • 00:28:56
    specific story that I don't think is
  • 00:28:58
    valuable to tell and uh I don't think
  • 00:29:03
    is accurate Like I think that it's not
  • 00:29:06
    true
  • 00:29:09
    which I don't know I feel like that's
  • 00:29:12
    important If you want to sign up for the
  • 00:29:13
    newsletter I think that it would be a
  • 00:29:15
    good addition to your life It's called
  • 00:29:16
    we are here and you can sign up at the
  • 00:29:18
    link in the description
Tags
  • Colossal
  • de-extinction
  • biodiversity
  • gene editing
  • ecology
  • genetically modified
  • species creation
  • habitat loss
  • public funding
  • synthetic species