Climate change. It could kill us any day now if we're lucky. But one scientist has a solution. Meet Dr. George Church. He knows exactly how to curb climate change. And the answer is so simple. We're engineering cold tolerant elephants using DNA from ancient extinct woolly mammoths to help us with climate change. You're going to bring back the woolly mammoth. Something like that. From the ice age around that era. Yeah. Voiced by Ray Romano. Yeah, that that's the theme. Oh, yeah. That's good. So, while some think they're doing their part with their electric cars, George and the company Colossal were making Jurassic Park a reality. Colossus Biosciences is a genetic engineering firm working to resurrect the woolly mammoth. This process will save animals on the brink of extinction and even improve the environment. You know, I never thought about the woolly mammoth angle. I almost feel stupid for not thinking about it because it was right there in front of me. Uh, I just have one silly question. How exactly is a woolly mammoth going to combat climate change? Are we going to provide them with a canvas tote and metal straws? There aren't that many solutions that address the gigantic amount of carbon that could be released in the form of methane from the the Arctic. We're concerned about uh both keeping that that carbon in the ground uh frozen, which means it would be nice to have cold resistant elephants stomp down the snow and allow the the minus40 winter wind to come in and cool down the perafrost and knock down the trees. And elephants are one of the few animals in the world that will knock down trees. Got it. They love knocking down trees. So, a big part of this is about knocking down trees and restoring the grasslands and the and the vibrant ecosystem that came along with them. Right. Right. Have you considered monster trucks? I feel like with the right combination of monster trucks, monster truck drivers, and meth, you could really knock down a lot of trees. We haven't discussed that yet. That's uh that's out of the box. Well, I am on board. Not because I'm pretending to understand everything that you're saying or comprehend the science behind it, but I would love a pet woolly mammoth. I think that would be fun. I Okay, just me and my pet Willie Nelson. This is the best idea ever. I think it's a bad idea. Extinct species are extinct. Bringing them back to influence climate change, it's a non-starter. There's always a buzzkill. Meet Dr. Ross McY from the American Museum of Natural History. I've spent most of my career on ice age paleontology, on mammoths, on saber-tooth cats. You name it, I've been there. Wait, so you're a paleontologist who works at the American Museum of Natural History, and your name is Dr. Ross? I know. I know where you're going with this. I didn't think today could get any better, but oh my god. Okay, Troy, here it is. This is the mammoth. This is what they want to bring back. They want to bring this back in all of its glory. Wow. Well, it seems easy enough. The bones are all there, right? But it's a little matter of the soft tissues that we need as well. Oh, right. Kleenex. Yeah. So, how would they even resurrect an extinct species? The woolly mammoth and the Asian elephant are very closely related. We can engineer them to be compatible with compatible with uh genetic engineering tools tools. Right. So, in a way, you're making sort of an Asian hybrid. Correct. Yes. Okay. Well, now I know why they asked me to do this interview. But here's the problem. money that's going to be spent would be much better spent on endangered species that are still with us. But can you imagine a beautiful world where humans and woolly mammoths play together on Earth? We're talking about an animal that is eating 300 lb of food a day. 300 lb. Someone called TLC. Yeah, I know. Nobody wants something that's 5 to 6,000 lb marching around in their yard. Oh my god. Have you been reading my journal? In my childhood dream journal, I wrote, "I want something that's 5 to 6,000 pounds marching around my yard." It's a big mistake. Well, I was a kid. Both of these geniuses made good points, but only one of them had a secret lab full of prehistoric creatures. And I couldn't believe I was finally going to meet one of these majestic mammoths. Wow. This is This is amazing. So, where are the the mammoths? Are they in the back? Even a a simple engineered elephant's a little short of mammoth. Probably 2028 at the earliest. 2028. Are you kidding me? Uh we could show you some elephant cells. All right, let's see some elephant cells. Fun. These are very precious cells. It took us years to develop. Um it's very sterile was sterile. Uh very rich u growth media. So, you're going to turn this water into a woolly mammoth? Well, the cells could conceivably contribute to changing the genome of an elephant. Okay, bringing back a woolly mammoth to curb climate change might seem bonkers, but it's either that or car pooling with co-workers we hate. At least this guy will be here when we're all gone. [Music]