Over 60 percent of the global population is under 40 years old, which means they have grown up since Michael Crichton's fictional "Jurassic Park" envisioned bringing long-extinct creatures back to life.
Now, a startup called Colossal Laboratories & Biosciences has raised at least $15 million to actually bring the woolly mammoth back to populate the Arctic tundra as an effort to fight climate change and protect the permafrost.
What in Crichton's mind was a fanciful concept is today more like a scientific probability, since in the interim Dolly the sheep became the first mammal successfully cloned in 1996.
There's plenty of woolly mammoth DNA around, and ethical concerns aside, there are those who argue that "de-extinction" of mammals is not only feasible but desirable.
One assumption underlying this argument is that by reintroducing extinct animals and plants, we could help restore balance to the world's ecosystem, thereby repairing the damage one particular species -- Homo Sapiens -- has managed to wreak in a geologically brief period of time.
As attractive as this prospect may be, it is intellectually difficult to accept that we as the species who've mucked it all up have attained anything close to the wisdom necessary to fix it.
On the other hand, if we don't dream, we won't try. Something tells me that Crichton, who passed away way too soon at the age of 66 in 2008, would appreciate the spirit involved in this effort.
***
THE HEADLINES:
* Activists ‘born into the climate crisis’ face another challenge: Fear of the future (WP)
* Brazil renews protection of little-seen Amazon tribe for six months (Reuters)
* Scientists want to bring back the woolly mammoth. Ethicists aren’t so sure. (WP)
* UN: Climate pledges put world on ‘catastrophic pathway’ (AP)
* Biden asks world leaders to cut methane in climate fight (Reuters)
* Giant sequoias: Multiple forest fires are threatening some of the world’s largest trees in the Sierra Nevada mountains. (AP)
* Will aluminum-wrapped sequoias survive fire’s onslaught? (SF Chronicle)
* Illegal marijuana farms take West’s scarce water (AP)
* FDA panel endorses coronavirus boosters for older adults and those at risk of serious disease (WP)
* Retailers Rethink Pandemic-Battered Manhattan -- Starbucks has closed more than 40 stores, while adding mobile-order pickup counters in others. Other chains like Sonic are taking advantage of vacancies to establish themselves in New York. (NYT)
* How Facebook Hobbled Mark Zuckerberg’s Bid to Get America Vaccinated (WSJ)
* California is seeing covid-19 cases drop. Has the state turned the tide on the delta variant? (WP)
* Children And Teens Gained Weight At An Alarming Rate During The Pandemic, The CDC Says (NPR)
* The pandemic has created a nation of insomniacs (Vox)
* The pandemic has increased the number of people who die without anyone claiming their bodies (WP)
* Taliban replaces women's ministry with ministry of virtue and vice (Reuters)
* Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, Ohio’s first Latino to represent the state in Congress, said he will not seek reelection after he was one of just 10 House Republicans to vote to impeach Donald Trump. “The current state of our politics, especially many of the toxic dynamics inside our own party, is a significant factor in my decisions,” he said. [HuffPost]
* Amazon faces Teamsters union drive at nine Canadian sites (Reuters)
* Demonstrators are planning to rally in Washington this weekend in support of those who violently breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, prompting concern from law enforcement officials. The “Justice for J6” event is organized by a former Trump campaign operative, although it’s unclear if far-right groups or any elected Republicans will attend. The city is building a security fence around the Capitol again in preparation. [HuffPost]
* UC Berkeley is officially the best college in the U.S., says Forbes magazine, which ranks colleges and placed the university in the No. 1 spot on its new list. UC Berkeley was the 13th best college in America in 2019, the last time the rankings came out. (California Today)
* Fourth-Grader’s Report On Anacondas Largely Rehashes Established Research (The Onion)
I think it was as a child
Inspiration at my fingertips
Imagination running wild
Ohhh ohhh, you get me high
You get me high
You give me something so deep
You get me high
I remember feeling this way
You can lose it without knowing
You wake up and you don't know which way
The wind is blowing
Ohhh ohhh, you get me high
You get me high
You give me something so deep
You get me high
I ain't afraid of what people say
Ain't afraid of the great deception
Every bad dream comes my way
Turned to smoke on closer inspection
Ohhh ohhh, you get me high
You get me high
You give me something so deep
You get me high
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