Is extinction a thing of the past?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 30 April 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Scientists at a bio-technology firm made headlines when they announced the “de-extinction” of the dire wolf, a species of wolf that went extinct on Earth over 10,000 years ago. Colossal Biosciences examined DNA from ancient dire wolf fossils and used it to create wolf puppies with traits of the extinct species. The gene editing technology sparked curiosity around the world, and although the new wolves were not exact replicas of the originals they had similar traits. The development raises serious questions about what de-extinction really means.
Mass extinctions have shaped the history of life on Earth, and nature has adapted across the millennia, but with almost half of all species already in decline, including some frogs, how seriously is de-extinction technology being taken?
Contributors: Dr. Beth Shapiro, Chief Science Officer, Colossal Biosciences, California, USA Dr. Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Associate Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Global Change, Queen's University Belfast, UK Torill Kornfeldt, Science Journalist and author, Sweden Dr. Jay Odenbaugh, Professor of Philosophy, James F. Miller Professor of Humanities, Lewis and Clark College, Oregon, USA
Presenter: Charmaine Cozier Producer: Louise Clarke Researcher: Maeve Schaffer Editor: Tara McDermott Technical Producer: Craig Boardman Production Management Assistant: Liam Morrey
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy. |
| 0:05.4 | My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:10.7 | The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that. |
| 0:17.4 | With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to |
| 0:22.4 | helping you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all |
| 0:28.1 | put together by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life, |
| 0:34.9 | check out BBC Sounds. Welcome to The Inquiry. I'm Charmaine Cozier. Each week, |
| 0:40.3 | one question, four expert witnesses and an answer. April 2025, YouTube. A 17-second video is posted. |
| 0:53.0 | Two animals with fluffy white fur are held up for the camera. |
| 0:57.0 | They're tiny, howling wolf puppies. |
| 1:05.8 | They're called Romulus and Remus after the mythical twin founders of Rome who were saved by She-Wolf. |
| 1:13.7 | A private US company called Colossal Biosciences made the video clip. |
| 1:19.1 | It also made those wolf puppies. |
| 1:26.4 | The genetic engineering and biotech firm did that with the help of DNA from the Diorwolf, |
| 1:32.1 | a species which died out thousands of years ago. |
| 1:35.5 | It's raising wider conversations about what's happened and whether it should be happening. |
| 1:40.8 | So this week we're asking, is extinction a thing of the past? |
| 1:46.7 | Part 1, reliving the past. |
| 1:51.5 | In 2015, I wrote a book called How to Clone a Mammas, where I said that it's not possible to clone an extinct species. |
| 1:58.3 | It isn't. |
| 1:58.8 | We've actually cloned cells from a living species that we've edited. |
| 2:02.1 | It is an incredible breakthrough. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.