Resurrection: Bringing Back Extinct Animals

Imagine if Jurassic Park came to life...REAL LIFE. It wouldn't be the first time science fiction became reality. But, this time, instead of T-Rex and Velociraptors, you've got long-extinct woolly mammoths roaming the arctic tundra, and the more recently extinct passenger pigeons filling the skies. This is the ambitious dream of scientists George Church (Harvard, MIT) and Ben Novak (Revive & Restore)... but is it even remotely possible? Thirty years ago, when the original Jurassic Park movie came out, genome sequencing and CRISPR CAS 9 - the gene editing technology - didn't exist. Now that they do, does it mean we'll get to see ancient beasts again? We discuss the why's and how's with our brilliant guests. And, hear about a secret connection George Church has to his one time student, Michael Crichton, the author of Jurassic Park.