by Rob Stein, NPR’s science desk correspondent and senior editor
Remember Jurassic Park? Velociraptors rampaging through the jungle?
The possibility of bringing long-gone species back to life has long fascinated humanity. But it has always been the stuff of science fiction, not reality.
But could that change? One Texas biotech company thinks the answer is yes.
Rob Stein/NPR
Colossal Biosciences Inc., says gene-editing and other powerful new technologies have given scientists the tools they need to turn the fantasy of Jurassic Park into a new kind of reality.
I’ve been keeping an eye on Colossal for years. After all, the biotech has proclaimed the audacious goal of resurrecting iconic extinct species such as the woolly mammoth, Tasmanian tiger and dodo bird.
But Colossal has long generated deep skepticism and even intense objections. Some biologists, conservationists and paleontologists say the company’s goals are far-fetched and its claims exaggerated. And even if “de-extinction” were possible, bringing back long-gone animals would be unethical and could be dangerous, they say.
Nevertheless, the company says it has raised more than $600 million, assembled a staff of more than 260 scientists, and was valued at $10 billion during a financing round in early 2025. Colossal certainly has the wherewithal to make a big effort.
Finally, the opportunity arose for me to get an inside look. Colossal just opened a 55,000-square-foot state-of-the-art laboratory, and officials agreed to bring me behind the scenes to show off the company’s new digs and latest research.
I flew from Washington, D.C., to Dallas, jumped into an Uber and headed to Colossal. The Uber dropped me at the edge of a big parking lot on the outskirts of the city’s downtown. I made my way across the asphalt, found the right two-story brick building in the nondescript office park and took the elevator to the second floor.
When the elevator doors parted, I felt like I was entering a different world. The cavernous lobby felt like a cross between a Silicon Valley startup and a science museum. High ceilings revealed exposed pipes and ducts painted black. White floors kind of glowed. A silent, wall-sized video depicted extinct and endangered species and scientists working in white lab coats.
For the next two hours, I met with geneticists decoding mammoth DNA recovered from remains frozen in the Arctic, biologists trying to create cloned, gene-edited mammoth embryos from the skin cells of Asian elephants (the mammoth’s closest living relative), and engineers working on new reproductive technologies.
I listened to the company’s top scientists talk about their hopesthat their work will not only bring back extinct species, but also create tools that could help save species on the brink of extinction.
It remains far from clear whether Colossal's scientists will ever achieve any of the company’s bold goals. But Colossal clearly has the resources to push the boundaries of many of today’s most provocative biomedical technologies.
Read more about what I saw at Colossal’s headquarters here.
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