Hope the conservation efforts for 'little dodo' will get as much funding (if not more) as the claimed 'de-extinction' projects. SCS needs support to expand the invasive species' control to more forests and save the last remaining manumeas from extinction

This “Biotech” has raised more than half a billion USD. Imagine what real conservation work that could fund.

‘They didn’t de-extinct anything’: can Colossal’s genetically engineered animals ever be the real thing? “Charles Darwin summed it up when he said, ‘when a group has once wholly disappeared, it does not reappear; for the link of generation has been broken.’ 🧪🧬🐺 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Very important distinction between de-extinction and modification.

When biology becomes advanced enough to create animals entirely from the DNA of extinct animals preserved in museums, I would call that de-extinction. Just making a few edits to the DNA of a grey wolf and calling it a dire wolf is an overstatement, falsehood, etc www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Forget this - support LIVE scientists instead I reckon. It is a backwards idea like a magic bullet. > “Colossal are preying on people’s desire to undo the sins of the past. However, to achieve this, Colossal is spreading misinformation and undermining trust in science by attacking critics.”

At the height of the Earth's 6th great extinction - in reality its first great extermination - we still have to put up with this drivel Use your wads of cash to save the thousands of species threatened with extinction every year - you idiots www.theguardian.com/environment/...

What happens when corporate hype (neé lies‽), gullible media, and media malpractice combine? A #Deextinctiom #Misinformation malstrom 🧪 🐺

No, the dire wolf has not been brought back from extinction – and I even got Colossal’s chief scientist to admit as much in interview with me. In response, the company put out a statement reiterating its claims 3/ www.newscientist.com/article/2481...

Colossal Biosciences wins 2025 The Screamers Award for science hype on incorrect dire wolf de-extinction claim ipscell.com/2025/12/colo... #genetics #stemcells #scicomm

I don't think what you do is "mainstream" if you're running ads on twitter

Extinction is forever. If we’re to have any hope for the future of nature, we have to learn to grieve. Experience, knowledge, culture, ways of being we can only now touch through tooth and bone, they cannot be replaced. My @slate.com essay on de-extinction is one of their top stories of the year.

“Without any exaggeration, this is one of the most important finds in the Pacific. There’s so much here, and the preservation is extraordinary. It dates to the heyday of Pacific voyaging.” #moana

And with land plants, when you start relating sexuality to life cycle stages it can really do your head in.

It is absolutely wild and a few other plants do the same or similar things. Avocados are hermaphrodites with bisexual protogynous flowers. The dimorphism is in the timing of flower opening so some plants present pollen in the morning and receive it in the afternoon; the others vice versa.

A new #ScienceAdvances study shows that commercial whaling in the Southern Ocean over the past century reduced the genetic diversity—and possibly the evolutionary fitness—of the region’s humpback whales. https://scim.ag/4anxPpM

This story is absolutely wild. Did you know that avocados change sex over the course of a day? And that it's controlled by a single ancient balanced polymorphism? This is flat our crazy

A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight, Walking in a #wombat wonderland. Happy Wombatmas on this #WombatWednesday. #Tasmania #mammalwatching #WildOz #wombats

Co-founder of Colossal Biosciences Ben Lamm has a history of hyping up “world-changing” ventures that ultimately lead nowhere. Cheerleading false techno-fixes like de-extinction in the media distracts from real attempts to address biodiversity loss and climate change.

I stole a peek at my mum’s xmas cake. Yes the speech bubble says “bugger” 😂

I’ll be at Cambridge Museum of Zoology @zoologymuseum.bsky.social on Wednesday, 11 February, 19:00-20:00, to talk about encountering #extinction in museums with lots of reference to their exhibitions! Book your free place: www.museum.zoo.cam.ac.uk/events/talk-...

On Friday 13 Feb I’ll be at the perfect place to talk about extinction in natural history museums: Oxford University Museum of Natural History @morethanadodo.bsky.social. Free tickets available for “Dead as a Dodo: The Haunted Heritage of Extinction” oumnh.ox.ac.uk/event/dead-a... #extinction

Everyone knows the story of Robin Hood, but how much do you know about the reality behind it? Thaddeus Papke @intogreenwood.bsky.social joins me to untangle this Medieval tale. We delve into historical sources, tall-tales, tourist traps, and the archaeology behind the legend youtu.be/g4Sx3wWso3g

Kiwis hatch in Nelson sanctuary during Christmas season

If you're out and about, keep an eye out for Aotearoa's many spectacular flowering trees - and then get some cardboard tubes to see the blooms in 3D in this botanical treasure by @theobrominated.bsky.social theconversation.com/most-of-nzs-...

O is for Opisthocoelocaudia

📡🎅 For just one night a year, we get to switch our radar from "RAIN" to the special "SANTA" function. If we are very lucky, we might catch a quick glimpse of Santa and his reindeer as they head our way. Next stop: New Zealand! Merry Christmas, Meri Kirihimete

In which my critical commentary of @itiscolossal.bsky.social's #DeExtinction #DisInformation campaign sadly merits a subsection; debate is essential for scientific discourse, it should be heated, never be personal; I'm grateful for @embopress.org coverage; sunlight is the best disinfectant. 🧪 🌱🐋

We're also not clones of each other; everyone can have their own reason(s) to oppose #DeExtinction; Insinuating we're Luddites is just petty...

Critics of #DeExtinction don't have the "mentality of preferring the problem to the solution." One of mine is basically is trust in advertising; @itiscolossal.bsky.social trades disinformation for capital; that's the problem, the solution is to not do that 🧪 🤷 www.spectator.co.uk/article/welc...

The age of #SyntheticBiology and development of specific purpose GMOs in the name of #DeExtinction, #ReWilding and #Aesthetics is here; it’s good that #IUCN is not fundraising from the private sector to reduce “anyrisk of perceived conflict of interest.”(@itiscolossal.bsky.social 👀) 🧪 🐋🍃

The #ColossalBio Mammouse™️ v2.0 just dropped; same fluffy mouse but now v2.0 Check out Antonio Regalado’s original MIT Tech Review story about how #CollosalBio is attempting to legalize their definition of deëxtinction, but #ExtinctionIsForever 🧪 🦣 www.technologyreview.com/2025/04/16/1...

The #BioTech #ColossalBio is developing will transform healthcare; genetic disease & infertility? Gone. Monetizing tech is the point, not deëxtinction, but that tech begets designer babies (aka eugenics) — this is why critical discussion of their rhetoric matters 🧪 🐋🌱 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Writing essay on #DeExtinction and found this quote from #Darwin: “When a group has once wholly disappeared, it does not reappear; for the link of generation has been broken.” From On The Origin of Species Chapter X (On Extinction) 😙🤌 🧪 🐋🌱

Here's a short piece on de-extinction that just came out in Ethics, Policy, & Environment: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/DKVRV...

What does the #DeExtinction of “dire wolves” and Hitler’s DNA have in common? #Pseudoscience, scientific #Misinformation, #Clickbate headlines, and #Hype Great article by @maxhenrybarnhart.bsky.social on media-first science 🧪 #BlueSkyScience #AcademicBluesky #BioSky #HumanGenetics

TLDR, while #Deextinction didn’t happen the #hype, #fraud, #DarkPR and #Disinformation campaigns very much did 🧪 🐺

“there’s a huge range of views around deer…from people who think they should be totally eradicated in New Zealand to people who absolutely love them and are not as concerned about the impact on the bush.” Not all views are valid views! How this spectrum has changed over time would be interesting.

Bioinvasions impose significant burgeoning costs to society. A reminder from 2023: www.watercanada.net/new-study-sh...

I would also highly recommend watching this excellent video from @forestandbird.bsky.social that I use in my undergrad and postgrad teaching m.youtube.com/watch?v=J5j2...

And here blogs.otago.ac.nz/lost-worlds/...

You can also find more information about the impact of deer here blogs.otago.ac.nz/lost-worlds/...

We need to get control of deer numbers (& exotic ungulates) in NZ before widespread forest ecosystem collapse ensues. This piece I wrote for @theconversationnz.bsky.social in 2022 is still very much true today especially with the push for herds of special interest theconversation.com/despite-the-...

These are a big problem too. A few years ago a big row about this was in the news. Somehow 'game hunters' and the people making money organising the hunting trips seem to winning while ecosystems are being munted. #NZPOL

Deer are responsible for the extermination of native plant species and a decline of plant dependent species. The lack of predators here in the US has resulted in a landscape stripped by hungry hoards.

TLDR; no.

Does anyone know an example, which predates any species other than the Pyrenean ibex (or black footed ferrets), of an extinct species actually being cloned in an attempt to bring it back from extinction (plant, animal, single-celled thing)‽ 🧪 ☠️ 🪦