Today's Article

My name's Katie Hunt. I'm a science writer at CNN. I wrote about a company that has created some mice that look a tiny bit like a 1woollymammoth. So 2the big picture, this company, Colossal Biosciences, they want to 3bring back the woolly mammoth from 4extinction, although it's safe to say that they're still many years from 5achieving anything 6approximating a mammoth. 

The mice have longer fur, they have lighter fur, it's a blonde color other than a brown color, also have curly 7whiskers. Scientists say that technically it is quite an achievement to be able to make multiple 8gene edits at once in this way and 9alter several different 10traits involving several different genes. 

And it's certainly true that while mice are used in labs around the world, they probably haven't been used in this way before to model the traits of an extinct animal. But many people say that bringing back the woolly mammoth, which is what this company wants to do, is not really possible. 

Many people are 11skeptical about this project. One scientist I spoke to said it was frustrating that they'd 12managed to engineer these traits, but they hadn't really tested whether these mice do 13cope better in colder temperatures. And it's also an 14endeavor that is possibly 15ethicallychallenging and 16dubious.