"De-Extinct" Dire Wolves, Nuclear Iran, and Ambassador Huckabee

Tipping Point Quick Hits (04.10.25)

Scientists Bring Dire Wolves Back from Extinction

A company called Colossal Biosciences announced this week that it had created two dire wolf pups using DNA from an ancient tooth and skull. The biotechnology company specializes in “de-extinction”—it was founded to try to resurrect the extinct woolly mammoth—and engineered two male pups named Romulus and Remus and a female named Khaleesi to exhibit traits of the dire wolf. The ancient mammal is said to have gone extinct thousands of years ago.

How did they do it? They analyzed ancient DNA to identify the key differences between modern gray wolves and extinct dire wolves. Then they used CRISPR technology to edit specific genes in gray wolf cells to reflect the characteristics of dire wolves—like larger size, broader heads and thicker fur.

Then they implanted those cells into eggs from dogs, developed the embryos, and then put those embryos into surrogate dogs.