[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:00.87,0:00:02.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I was a young boy,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:02.65,0:00:05.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I used to gaze through the microscope of my father
Dialogue: 0,0:00:05.26,0:00:08.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at the insects in amber that he kept in the house.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:08.62,0:00:11.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they were remarkably well preserved,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:11.18,0:00:13.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,morphologically just phenomenal.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:13.42,0:00:15.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we used to imagine that someday,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:15.62,0:00:17.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they would actually come to life
Dialogue: 0,0:00:17.22,0:00:19.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they would crawl out of the resin,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:19.22,0:00:21.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and, if they could, they would fly away.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.97,0:00:24.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you had asked me 10 years ago whether or not
Dialogue: 0,0:00:24.34,0:00:27.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we would ever be able to sequence the genome of extinct animals,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.54,0:00:30.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I would have told you, it's unlikely.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:30.02,0:00:31.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you had asked whether or not we would actually be able
Dialogue: 0,0:00:31.91,0:00:34.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to revive an extinct species,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.06,0:00:35.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I would have said, pipe dream.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:35.72,0:00:38.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I'm actually standing here today, amazingly,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.25,0:00:40.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to tell you that not only is the sequencing
Dialogue: 0,0:00:40.25,0:00:44.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of extinct genomes a possibility, actually a modern-day reality,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:44.44,0:00:48.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the revival of an extinct species is actually within reach,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:48.74,0:00:50.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,maybe not from the insects in amber --
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.58,0:00:52.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in fact, this mosquito was actually used
Dialogue: 0,0:00:52.54,0:00:54.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for the inspiration for "Jurassic Park" —
Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.89,0:00:57.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but from woolly mammoths, the well preserved remains
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.45,0:00:59.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of woolly mammoths in the permafrost.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.65,0:01:01.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Woollies are a particularly interesting,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.73,0:01:04.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,quintessential image of the Ice Age.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:04.27,0:01:06.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They were large. They were hairy.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:06.10,0:01:08.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They had large tusks, and we seem to have
Dialogue: 0,0:01:08.08,0:01:10.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a very deep connection with them, like we do with elephants.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.98,0:01:13.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Maybe it's because elephants share
Dialogue: 0,0:01:13.50,0:01:15.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,many things in common with us.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:15.32,0:01:18.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They bury their dead. They educate the next of kin.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.05,0:01:21.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They have social knits that are very close.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:21.07,0:01:23.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Or maybe it's actually because we're bound by deep time,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:23.94,0:01:27.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because elephants, like us, share their origins in Africa
Dialogue: 0,0:01:27.28,0:01:29.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some seven million years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.40,0:01:32.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and as habitats changed and environments changed,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:32.19,0:01:35.80,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we actually, like the elephants, migrated out
Dialogue: 0,0:01:35.80,0:01:38.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into Europe and Asia.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.02,0:01:40.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the first large mammoth that appears on the scene
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.72,0:01:44.13,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is meridionalis, which was standing four meters tall
Dialogue: 0,0:01:44.13,0:01:47.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,weighing about 10 tons, and was a woodland-adapted species
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.96,0:01:50.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and spread from Western Europe clear across Central Asia,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:50.92,0:01:53.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,across the Bering land bridge
Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.18,0:01:55.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and into parts of North America.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:55.48,0:01:58.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then, again, as climate changed as it always does,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.17,0:01:59.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and new habitats opened up,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.68,0:02:02.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we had the arrival of a steppe-adapted species
Dialogue: 0,0:02:02.16,0:02:04.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,called trogontherii in Central Asia
Dialogue: 0,0:02:04.41,0:02:07.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,pushing meridionalis out into Western Europe.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:07.16,0:02:09.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the open grassland savannas of North America
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.55,0:02:11.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,opened up, leading to the Columbian mammoth,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:11.71,0:02:14.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a large, hairless species in North America.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:14.25,0:02:17.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it was really only about 500,000 years later
Dialogue: 0,0:02:17.16,0:02:19.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we had the arrival of the woolly,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.87,0:02:21.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the one that we all know and love so much,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:21.90,0:02:25.21,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,spreading from an East Beringian point of origin
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.21,0:02:28.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,across Central Asia, again pushing the trogontherii
Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.09,0:02:29.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,out through Central Europe,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:29.74,0:02:31.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and over hundreds of thousands of years
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.81,0:02:34.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,migrating back and forth across the Bering land bridge
Dialogue: 0,0:02:34.89,0:02:36.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,during times of glacial peaks
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.92,0:02:38.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and coming into direct contact
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.72,0:02:41.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with the Columbian relatives living in the south,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:41.52,0:02:44.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there they survive over hundreds of thousands of years
Dialogue: 0,0:02:44.81,0:02:46.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,during traumatic climatic shifts.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:46.98,0:02:51.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So there's a highly plastic animal dealing with great transitions
Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.20,0:02:54.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in temperature and environment, and doing very, very well.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:54.05,0:02:58.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there they survive on the mainland until about 10,000 years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:58.04,0:03:01.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and actually, surprisingly, on the small islands off of Siberia
Dialogue: 0,0:03:01.19,0:03:03.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Alaska until about 3,000 years ago.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:03.67,0:03:05.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So Egyptians are building pyramids
Dialogue: 0,0:03:05.36,0:03:08.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and woollies are still living on islands.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.12,0:03:09.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then they disappear.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:09.67,0:03:11.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like 99 percent of all the animals that have once lived,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:11.92,0:03:15.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they go extinct, likely due to a warming climate
Dialogue: 0,0:03:15.20,0:03:17.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and fast-encroaching dense forests
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.29,0:03:18.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that are migrating north,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:18.79,0:03:21.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and also, as the late, great Paul Martin once put it,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:21.76,0:03:23.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,probably Pleistocene overkill,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:23.51,0:03:26.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so the large game hunters that took them down.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.08,0:03:28.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Fortunately, we find millions of their remains
Dialogue: 0,0:03:28.35,0:03:31.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,strewn across the permafrost buried deep
Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.02,0:03:34.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in Siberia and Alaska, and we can actually go up there
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.15,0:03:36.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and actually take them out.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:36.06,0:03:37.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the preservation is, again,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.58,0:03:40.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like those insects in [amber], phenomenal.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.15,0:03:43.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So you have teeth, bones with blood
Dialogue: 0,0:03:43.67,0:03:45.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which look like blood, you have hair,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.71,0:03:47.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you have intact carcasses or heads
Dialogue: 0,0:03:47.24,0:03:50.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which still have brains in them.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.18,0:03:52.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the preservation and the survival of DNA
Dialogue: 0,0:03:52.55,0:03:54.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,depends on many factors, and I have to admit,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:54.62,0:03:56.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,most of which we still don't quite understand,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.95,0:03:59.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but depending upon when an organism dies
Dialogue: 0,0:03:59.02,0:04:03.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and how quickly he's buried, the depth of that burial,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.51,0:04:06.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the constancy of the temperature of that burial environment,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.82,0:04:09.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will ultimately dictate how long DNA will survive
Dialogue: 0,0:04:09.38,0:04:12.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over geologically meaningful time frames.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:12.24,0:04:13.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's probably surprising to many of you
Dialogue: 0,0:04:13.89,0:04:17.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sitting in this room that it's not the time that matters,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:17.03,0:04:18.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's not the length of preservation,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:18.66,0:04:22.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's the consistency of the temperature of that preservation that matters most.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:22.64,0:04:25.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So if we were to go deep now within the bones
Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.46,0:04:28.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the teeth that actually survived the fossilization process,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:28.43,0:04:31.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the DNA which was once intact, tightly wrapped
Dialogue: 0,0:04:31.82,0:04:34.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,around histone proteins, is now under attack
Dialogue: 0,0:04:34.19,0:04:37.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by the bacteria that lived symbiotically with the mammoth
Dialogue: 0,0:04:37.16,0:04:38.97,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for years during its lifetime.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:38.97,0:04:42.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So those bacteria, along with the environmental bacteria,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:42.17,0:04:45.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,free water and oxygen, actually break apart the DNA
Dialogue: 0,0:04:45.87,0:04:48.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into smaller and smaller and smaller DNA fragments,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:48.42,0:04:50.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,until all you have are fragments that range
Dialogue: 0,0:04:50.74,0:04:53.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from 10 base pairs to, in the best case scenarios,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:53.42,0:04:55.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a few hundred base pairs in length.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:55.79,0:04:58.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So most fossils out there in the fossil record
Dialogue: 0,0:04:58.10,0:05:00.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are actually completely devoid of all organic signatures.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:00.82,0:05:03.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But a few of them actually have DNA fragments
Dialogue: 0,0:05:03.25,0:05:05.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that survive for thousands,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:05.12,0:05:08.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even a few millions of years in time.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:08.87,0:05:11.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And using state-of-the-art clean room technology,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:11.06,0:05:13.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we've devised ways that we can actually pull these DNAs
Dialogue: 0,0:05:13.72,0:05:16.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,away from all the rest of the gunk in there,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:16.23,0:05:18.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's not surprising to any of you sitting in the room
Dialogue: 0,0:05:18.43,0:05:20.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that if I take a mammoth bone or a tooth
Dialogue: 0,0:05:20.55,0:05:23.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I extract its DNA that I'll get mammoth DNA,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:23.55,0:05:27.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I'll also get all the bacteria that once lived with the mammoth,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:27.36,0:05:29.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and, more complicated, I'll get all the DNA
Dialogue: 0,0:05:29.60,0:05:31.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that survived in that environment with it,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:31.79,0:05:34.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so the bacteria, the fungi, and so on and so forth.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:34.96,0:05:37.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Not surprising then again that a mammoth
Dialogue: 0,0:05:37.37,0:05:39.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,preserved in the permafrost will have something
Dialogue: 0,0:05:39.04,0:05:41.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on the order of 50 percent of its DNA being mammoth,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:41.91,0:05:43.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whereas something like the Columbian mammoth,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:43.93,0:05:46.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,living in a temperature and buried in a temperate environment
Dialogue: 0,0:05:46.55,0:05:50.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over its laying-in will only have 3 to 10 percent endogenous.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:50.36,0:05:52.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But we've come up with very clever ways
Dialogue: 0,0:05:52.81,0:05:55.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we can actually discriminate, capture and discriminate,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:55.91,0:05:57.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the mammoth from the non-mammoth DNA,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:57.89,0:06:00.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and with the advances in high-throughput sequencing,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:00.44,0:06:03.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can actually pull out and bioinformatically
Dialogue: 0,0:06:03.28,0:06:06.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,re-jig all these small mammoth fragments
Dialogue: 0,0:06:06.24,0:06:08.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and place them onto a backbone
Dialogue: 0,0:06:08.54,0:06:11.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of an Asian or African elephant chromosome.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:11.10,0:06:13.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so by doing that, we can actually get all the little points
Dialogue: 0,0:06:13.68,0:06:16.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that discriminate between a mammoth and an Asian elephant,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:16.50,0:06:19.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and what do we know, then, about a mammoth?
Dialogue: 0,0:06:19.54,0:06:22.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, the mammoth genome is almost at full completion,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:22.69,0:06:26.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we know that it's actually really big. It's mammoth.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:26.24,0:06:29.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So a hominid genome is about three billion base pairs,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:29.42,0:06:30.100,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but an elephant and mammoth genome
Dialogue: 0,0:06:30.100,0:06:33.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is about two billion base pairs larger, and most of that
Dialogue: 0,0:06:33.65,0:06:36.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is composed of small, repetitive DNAs
Dialogue: 0,0:06:36.28,0:06:40.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that make it very difficult to actually re-jig the entire structure of the genome.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:40.91,0:06:43.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So having this information allows us to answer
Dialogue: 0,0:06:43.27,0:06:45.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of the interesting relationship questions
Dialogue: 0,0:06:45.41,0:06:47.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,between mammoths and their living relatives,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:47.58,0:06:49.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the African and the Asian elephant,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:49.62,0:06:52.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all of which shared an ancestor seven million years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:52.79,0:06:54.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the genome of the mammoth shows it to share
Dialogue: 0,0:06:54.88,0:06:57.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a most recent common ancestor with Asian elephants
Dialogue: 0,0:06:57.66,0:06:59.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about six million years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:59.07,0:07:01.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so slightly closer to the Asian elephant.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:01.55,0:07:04.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,With advances in ancient DNA technology,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:04.27,0:07:06.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can actually now start to begin to sequence
Dialogue: 0,0:07:06.22,0:07:09.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the genomes of those other extinct mammoth forms that I mentioned,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:09.54,0:07:11.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I just wanted to talk about two of them,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:11.42,0:07:13.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the woolly and the Columbian mammoth,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:13.48,0:07:15.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,both of which were living very close to each other
Dialogue: 0,0:07:15.89,0:07:18.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,during glacial peaks,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:18.52,0:07:20.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so when the glaciers were massive in North America,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:20.68,0:07:23.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the woollies were pushed into these subglacial ecotones,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:23.28,0:07:26.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and came into contact with the relatives living to the south,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:26.49,0:07:28.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and there they shared refugia,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:28.50,0:07:30.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and a little bit more than the refugia, it turns out.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:30.88,0:07:33.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It looks like they were interbreeding.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:33.38,0:07:35.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that this is not an uncommon feature
Dialogue: 0,0:07:35.02,0:07:36.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in Proboscideans, because it turns out
Dialogue: 0,0:07:36.66,0:07:39.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that large savanna male elephants will outcompete
Dialogue: 0,0:07:39.57,0:07:42.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the smaller forest elephants for their females.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:42.94,0:07:45.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So large, hairless Columbians
Dialogue: 0,0:07:45.25,0:07:47.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,outcompeting the smaller male woollies.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:47.05,0:07:49.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It reminds me a bit of high school, unfortunately.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:49.67,0:07:52.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Laughter)
Dialogue: 0,0:07:52.01,0:07:54.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So this is not trivial, given the idea that we want
Dialogue: 0,0:07:54.70,0:07:56.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to revive extinct species, because it turns out
Dialogue: 0,0:07:56.91,0:07:58.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that an African and an Asian elephant
Dialogue: 0,0:07:58.73,0:08:00.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can actually interbreed and have live young,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:00.82,0:08:02.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and this has actually occurred by accident in a zoo
Dialogue: 0,0:08:02.96,0:08:06.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in Chester, U.K., in 1978.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:06.00,0:08:09.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So that means that we can actually take Asian elephant chromosomes,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:09.15,0:08:11.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,modify them into all those positions we've actually now
Dialogue: 0,0:08:11.31,0:08:13.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,been able to discriminate with the mammoth genome,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:13.69,0:08:16.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can put that into an enucleated cell,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:16.47,0:08:18.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,differentiate that into a stem cell,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:18.73,0:08:21.05,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,subsequently differentiate that maybe into a sperm,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:21.05,0:08:23.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,artificially inseminate an Asian elephant egg,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:23.68,0:08:26.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and over a long and arduous procedure,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:26.78,0:08:30.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,actually bring back something that looks like this.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:30.29,0:08:31.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, this wouldn't be an exact replica,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:31.98,0:08:34.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,because the short DNA fragments that I told you about
Dialogue: 0,0:08:34.46,0:08:36.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will prevent us from building the exact structure,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:36.95,0:08:38.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it would make something that looked and felt
Dialogue: 0,0:08:38.48,0:08:41.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,very much like a woolly mammoth did.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:41.59,0:08:44.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now, when I bring up this with my friends,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:44.33,0:08:46.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we often talk about, well, where would you put it?
Dialogue: 0,0:08:46.94,0:08:48.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Where are you going to house a mammoth?
Dialogue: 0,0:08:48.63,0:08:50.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's no climates or habitats suitable.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:50.67,0:08:52.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, that's not actually the case.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:52.01,0:08:54.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It turns out that there are swaths of habitat
Dialogue: 0,0:08:54.90,0:08:57.24,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in the north of Siberia and Yukon
Dialogue: 0,0:08:57.24,0:08:58.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that actually could house a mammoth.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:58.44,0:09:00.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Remember, this was a highly plastic animal
Dialogue: 0,0:09:00.69,0:09:03.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that lived over tremendous climate variation.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:03.35,0:09:06.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So this landscape would be easily able to house it,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:06.23,0:09:09.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I have to admit that there [is] a part of the child in me,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:09.89,0:09:11.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the boy in me, that would love to see
Dialogue: 0,0:09:11.18,0:09:14.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these majestic creatures walk across the permafrost
Dialogue: 0,0:09:14.02,0:09:16.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the north once again, but I do have to admit
Dialogue: 0,0:09:16.48,0:09:18.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that part of the adult in me sometimes wonders
Dialogue: 0,0:09:18.62,0:09:21.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whether or not we should.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:21.03,0:09:22.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you very much.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:22.71,0:09:27.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,(Applause)
Dialogue: 0,0:09:27.91,0:09:29.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ryan Phelan: Don't go away.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:29.43,0:09:31.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You've left us with a question.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:31.16,0:09:34.68,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm sure everyone is asking this. When you say, "Should we?"
Dialogue: 0,0:09:34.68,0:09:37.29,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it feels like you're reticent there,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:37.29,0:09:40.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and yet you've given us a vision of it being so possible.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:40.27,0:09:41.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,What's your reticence?
Dialogue: 0,0:09:41.60,0:09:42.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Hendrik Poinar: I don't think it's reticence.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:42.90,0:09:46.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think it's just that we have to think very deeply
Dialogue: 0,0:09:46.70,0:09:49.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about the implications, ramifications of our actions,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:49.25,0:09:51.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and so as long as we have good, deep discussion
Dialogue: 0,0:09:51.45,0:09:53.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like we're having now, I think
Dialogue: 0,0:09:53.47,0:09:56.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can come to a very good solution as to why to do it.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:56.17,0:09:57.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But I just want to make sure that we spend time
Dialogue: 0,0:09:57.81,0:09:59.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thinking about why we're doing it first.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:59.66,0:10:02.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,RP: Perfect. Perfect answer. Thank you very much, Hendrik.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:02.44,0:10:04.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,HP: Thank you. (Applause)