logo
episode-header-image
Apr 2023
18m 43s

Bringing the Tasmanian Tiger back from e...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

It sounds like a movie script, like Jurassic Park, but Australian scientists are actually aiming to 'de-extinct' an animal.

The Tasmanian Tiger, or Thylacine, became extinct in 1936, nearly 90 years ago.

It's native to Australia, and thanks to millions of dollars of funding via a US-based biotech company, Colossal Biosciences, research is underway which could bring it back to life.

Sam Clack finds out why the project has attracted funding from a host of celebrity backers and asks whether science fiction could become reality?

Produced and presented by Sam Clack.

(Image: Tasmanian Tigers. Credit: Getty Images)

Up next
Today
Life after DOGE
Twelve months into Donald Trump’s second term as President, we examine what it’s meant for the US workforce.For government workers it has been a year of cuts, sackings and Elon Musk’s now disbanded DOGE - Department of Government Efficiency - group. Some sections of the workforce ... Show More
17m 29s
Jan 16
CEO of the Folio Society, Joanna Reynolds
We meet retail turnaround expert Joanna Reynolds, the woman behind the revival of the Folio Society, one of Britain’s oldest publishing houses. Ten years ago, the company was losing money and facing an existential threat from the digital revolution.Joanna explains how she transfo ... Show More
17m 28s
Jan 15
The 'Dry January' effect
Festive celebrations at Christmas and New Year often involve increased alcohol consumption in many parts of the world. For some, that’s followed by a decision to take a break from drinking. It's become widely known as Dry January.However, data shows that more people are choosing ... Show More
17m 28s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2022
The Hunt For the Tasmanian Tiger
<p>The last known thylacines, or Tasmanian tigers, passed away in captivity in the 1930s. Yet ever since that time, people in Tasmania and the Australian mainland have reported seeing these distinct, doglike marsupials in the wild. Why do so many people seem certain the thylacine ... Show More
38m 18s
Mar 2022
Back From the Dead: the Future of De-Extinction
<p>As the world struggles through an ongoing mass extinction, scientists across the planet are getting closer and closer to bringing entire species back from the dead -- a process known as de-extinction. Inspired by an earlier episode on the thylacine, Ben and Matt dive into the ... Show More
42m 57s
Mar 2011
Alien Invaders
The threat to wildlife from invasive species is now one of the greatest across the world and it is growing. Killer shrimp are the latest non-native species to be found in a formerly quiet and respectable area of Cambridgeshire. In the UK we have endlessly debated the problem of t ... Show More
28m 4s
Mar 2023
Could de-extincting the dodo help struggling species?
As a leading expert on paleogenomics, Beth Shapiro has been hearing the same question ever since she started working on ancient DNA: "The only question that we consistently were asked was, how close are we to bringing a mammoth back to life?" In the second part of our conversatio ... Show More
11m 51s
May 2022
Jack Ashby, "Platypus Matters: The Extraordinary Story of Australian Mammals" (U Chicago Press, 2022)
Think of a platypus: they lay eggs (that hatch into so-called platypups), they produce milk without nipples and venom without fangs and they can detect electricity. Or a wombat: their teeth never stop growing, they poo cubes and they defend themselves with reinforced rears. Platy ... Show More
49m 43s
Dec 2019
The Frozen Zoo
Right now, one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction. Conservation scientists are doing whatever they can to save them, or at least of piece of them. For the last 45 years, a team of researchers at the San Diego Zoo has been freezing the cells of endange ... Show More
28m 14s