As a child of the ’90s, Steven Spielberg’s classic film Jurassic Park was one of the very first “scary” movies my parents permitted me to watch. I was instantly hooked, and loved the idea of bringing extinct dinosaurs to life—despite the disastrous events that occur in the film.
The concept also fascinated Harvard geneticist George Church, who, along with serial entrepreneur Ben Lamm, started Colossal Biosciences in 2021 to bring back the woolly mammoth.
“I was part of the generation that read Jurassic Park,” says the 70-year-old Church, referencing the Michael Crichton novel on which the blockbuster film was based. His mammoth dreams started off in his lab, with little thought of turning them into a business. But after teaming up with Lamm, Church’s ambitious idea started to come into focus.
After the company recently raised $200 million at an eye-popping valuation of $10.2 billion, CEO Lamm is now a billionaire worth $3.7 billion, by Forbes’ estimates. With fresh funding, Colossal now aims to create a woolly mammoth calf by 2028—and it’s not the only animal the company is considering for its so-called de-extinction efforts.
Read more about Colossal Biosciences’ outlandishly brilliant concept in senior editor Amy Feldman’s latest story here, including details on why some in the science community are flat-out against the idea. And keep scrolling for more great journalism from the Forbes newsroom below. |
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