Published Apr 11, 2024

As advances in technology make the once science fiction idea of “de-extinction” closer to becoming a reality, what does it actually mean for a de-extinction company to be a real business?

That’s what I sat down to talk to Colossal Biosciences CEO and founder Ben Lamm about. Colossal has made headlines pursuing the de-extinction of the woolly mammoth, the Tasmanian tiger, and the dodo. The company’s raised more than $225 million to date, and its backers include USIT, Bold Capital Partners, Breyer Capital, Bob Nelsen, At One Ventures, and more.

“De-extinction and species preservation are connected,” said Lamm. “Sometimes people want to separate out species preservation, conservation, and I say, no, they’re all one thing.”

Colossal’s conservation efforts are wide-ranging. For example, the startup is currently working with the University of Alaska and University of Stockholm on one of the largest-ever studies focused on radiocarbon dating mammoths. Likewise, Colossal last year joined the BioRescue group working to save the northern white rhino from extinction. And, there’s the Victorian grassland earless dragon—a miniscule Australian lizard believed to be extinct in 1969. The lizard was recently re-discovered in the wild, and Colossal’s set up a breeding and release colony with the Melbourne Zoo devoted to the fetching little reptile. 

Published Apr 11, 2024 by Kris Capps

The well-known fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel” comes to life onstage at 6 p.m. Saturday when the University of Alaska Fairbanks Opera Workshop performs the musical story at the Davis Concert Hall.

First performed in 1893, Englebert Humperdink’s opera “Hansel and Gretel” retells the fable of how Hansel and Gretel find themselves lost in the forest. They stumble upon a house made of gingerbread. Unable to resist temptation, the pair begin eating the house only to be captured by the witch who lives there. The witch puts Gretel to work in the kitchen while fattening up Hansel for eating. Gretel manages to trick the witch and pushes her into her own oven, turning her into a cake. This releases all the gingerbread children the witch had baked before.

The performance is at 6 p.m. Saturday Davis Concert Hall. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students, seniors and military. UAF students and children under age 12 are admitted free.

Published Apr 11, 2024 by Patrick Gilchrist

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) is preparing to ship approximately 70 Wood Bison up the Tanana River this summer.

It’s part of an ongoing, 30-year-old project to restore the species to select spots in Interior Alaska.

About 40 to 50 of the bison will come from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Large Animal Research Station off Yankovich Road in Fairbanks. The department will collect the rest from Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center south of Anchorage.