Colossal Biosciences CEO Ben Lamm discusses the company's efforts to de-extinct species like woolly mammoths and dire wolves, emphasizing applications in conservation, healthcare, and developmental biology rather than entertainment. The company has successfully created dire wolf pups through genetic engineering of gray wolves using ancient DNA, and plans to birth a woolly mammoth in the 2030s by modifying Asian elephants. Lamm argues that de-extinction technologies could advance human healthcare, treat genetic diseases, and address climate change.
Living Models pairs Google's Gemma 4 language model with BOTANIC-1, a specialized genomic model, to help plant geneticists identify high-value traits in DNA sequences. Gemma 4 acts as a conversational interface that translates biological questions into structured queries for BOTANIC-1, bridging the gap between generalist and specialized models.