Episode description

Scientists around the world are trying to figure out how to mitigate the potentially disastrous impacts of climate change.

Among the innovative ideas? De-extinction.

“De-extinction is a scientific movement that’s aiming to recreate close versions of extinct species,” said Britt Wray, the author of Rise of the Necrofauna: The Science, Ethics, and Risks of De-Extinction.

Wray says the idea is to create close facsimiles of “keystone species,” or animals that had a profound impact on their ecosystems.

As you can imagine, de-extinction brings up a lot of questions, including:

• How on earth do you replicate an ancient zebra-horse?

• What happens when countries can create patents for lab-grown animals?

• And why would we want woolly mammoths to roam the arctic again?

Wray tackles all those questions, and more, on the latest episode of Nerdette.

Click the “play” button to listen to the entire conversation, which was produced and adapted for the web by Justin Bull.