Sawaal-Jawaab: The Myth of ‘bringing back’ the dire wolf

Can extinct species be brought back to life? The recent media attention on the claims of having ‘brought back the direwolf’ from extinction raises  profound questions. With edits on 20 positions in 14 genes in the gray wolf genome, the scientists created a ‘hybrid’ animal with cosmetic appearances they claim to be very close to the dire wolf. But does that make the animal a dire wolf or a gray wolf that is made to look like one? In this session, Manish Jaiswal (faculty at TIFR Hyderabad) spoke about the exciting science of gene editing and cloning. We discussed how geneticists are reading the book of life: from conservation to synthetic life, this talk highlighted the promise, risks, and ethical challenges of reshaping nature through modern genetics.