Goma Correspondent
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Nvidia shares sink as Chinese AI app spooks markets
The water has been cut off, electricity has been cut off, banks have closed, so it is difficult to move around.
Global News Podcast
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine
It does sound like an incredible story. So the story is about a company called Colossal Biosciences who have the stated aim of bringing back the woolly mammoth from extinction. to roam the Arctic tundra in time. They hope to have the first woolly mammoth in 2028. They're not going to be exactly woolly mammoths. They're going to be genetically modified elephants that are able to withstand the cold.
Global News Podcast
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine
And the reason they want to bring them back is to fill what they say is a vacant ecological niche. There's been an alarming loss of biodiversity all across the planet. And what Colossal want to do is to start bringing it back.
Global News Podcast
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine
So in the case of the mammoth, they believe that having mammoths stomping across the tundra will restore it and slow down the melting of the permafrost and slow down the release of carbon dioxide, which would be good for the environment. They're also trying to bring back the dodo and the Tasmanian tiger. But in this instance, to bring back the mammoth, their first step has been to try it on mice.
Global News Podcast
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine
They've altered seven genes to do with hair growth. And they've, unsurprisingly, you might think, got a mouse that looks quite like a mammoth, apart from the fact that it's the size of a mouse. Tell us what it looks like, Pallab. It's got bright orange hair, about five centimetres long. If you're a Star Trek fan, you might be familiar with tribbles. So it looks like a little tribble.
Global News Podcast
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine
And they just run around. Apparently, they're healthy. They did also insert a mammoth-like gene because they know what mammoth genes are like from studying frozen mammoths. That gene is supposed to increase fat levels. They don't know if that's worked or not. But this mouse is supposed to be a first step towards recreating the mammoth.
Global News Podcast
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine
But there is a lot of scepticism, a lot of concern about their work.
Global News Podcast
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine
There's huge amounts of criticism. First of all, going from a hairy mouse to an extinct woolly mammoth is a huge step. And even if you do try it out on elephants, what kind of suffering will be caused if something that works is seen to work on mice? Will it work on elephants? Could there be malformed creatures forming?
Global News Podcast
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine
And even if the creatures are fully formed, then how are they going to be treated by their mothers, their surrogate mothers? How are they going to be treated by the rest of the herd? And if you go through all of that, how on earth are you going to get hundreds, if not thousands of them, roaming across the tundra? So it does seem quite fantastic what they're trying to do.
Global News Podcast
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine
It's got bright orange hair, about five centimetres long. This mouse is supposed to be a first step towards recreating the mammoth.
Global News Podcast
Putin 'ready' to discuss Ukraine war with Trump
So many sources, including some hospital sources in Kinshasa, saying that the governor finally died after being inside from yesterday in the fight between the M23 and the factory around the area.
Global News Podcast
Putin 'ready' to discuss Ukraine war with Trump
of kasingesi but until now there is no more information people are really afraid about the possibility for the m23 to take goma people are trying to go out of goma some of them using the border of rwanda and also there are other people which are trying to use the boat and to use the lake to reach the town of Bukavu in the Saf Kivu.
Global News Podcast
Putin 'ready' to discuss Ukraine war with Trump
So many people are trying to move because of their security, because you have some human rights activists and defenders fly from the zone where the M23 controlled. And right now, when they understood that the M23 will control Goma, there is no way to move. People are really scared about what is going on.