At some point in the next decade, if advances in biotechnology continue on their current path, clones of extinct species such as the passenger pigeon, Tasmanian tiger and wooly mammoth could once again live among us. But cloning lost species—or “de-extinction” as some scientists call it—presents us with myriad ethical, legal and regulatory questions that [...]

If scientists in Brazil have their way, the populations of eight endangered species could soon expand through a mass effort to clone them. The project is spearheaded by the Brasilia Zoological Garden in partnership with Embrapa, the Brazilian government’s agricultural research agency. The scientists have already spent the past two years collecting 420 genetic samples [...]

Jurassic meow? Scientists at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, have come up with a novel idea for possibly saving endangered big cats: reproduce them in the lab. And the researchers have already accomplished the first step, creating embryonic stem-like cells from the tissue of an endangered adult snow leopard (Panthera uncia). The research was published [...]

The critically endangered wild Bactrian camel (Camelus ferus) is so rare and lives in such remote areas that it was only recognized (after a few years of scientific debate) as its own species in 2008, decades after China started using one of its few habitats, the the Lop Nur Desert, to test nuclear bombs. Amazingly, [...]

One of the risks in writing about endangered species is concentrating too much on the cute ones. But I couldn’t skip covering the African black-footed cat (Felis nigripes) and the scientific breakthrough that could give this rare species an extra chance at survival. The African black-footed cat is one of the world’s smallest and rarest [...]

The last Pyrenean ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) died nine years ago, the victim of loneliness (and a falling tree). But for a brief, seven-minute window, the extinct species may have recently been resurrected, thanks to cloning. Using skin samples taken from the last ibex before she died, and domestic goats as the hosts for implanted [...]

Welcome to the Center for Epigenetic Cloning. Within, you will find epigenetic clones of Lady Gaga, Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Napoleon and Jesus. From the Center’s press release: The procedure is completely noninvasive. Neither Merkel nor Gaga have been notified, nor have Napoleon and Christ needed to be exhumed. “We’re doing it entirely with data [...]