CITATION: Caplan AL (2025) Should scientists be allowed to bring distant human ancestors back to life? PLoS Biol 23(9): e3003384. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3003384

PUBLISHED: September 4, 2025

TITLE : Should scientists be allowed to bring distant human ancestors back to life?

COPYRIGHT : © 2025 Arthur L. Caplan .This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

                                               ***SUMMARY : OF THE PERSPECTIVE BY CAPLAN 2025***

BACKGROUND :

→There has been recent rush in the world of genetic engineering to bring back the dead more specifically the extinct one.

→Like they brought back the DIRE WOLVES ,now there is a ques of ethical values ,morals and all where they are thinking to bring back other humanoid species.

→Although we can only get the similar species not the exact replica of them due to some reasons we will be discussing

When we think about de-extinction it seems so fascinating and looks like the sci-fi world coming to the reality in future but before dwelling into the world of fantasies and ancient species walking on the Earth again Arthur Caplan reminds that we must carefully consider the ethical and moral aspects of doing so .In recent time Dallas based biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences ,claiming that they have successfully made it possible by bringing back the DIRE WOLVES but the techniques involved may not be that capable as we think of and moreover their research is going on. However by the present day technology they are able to create a somewhat akin but not similar or identical to actual extinct animals. The major techniques about which caplan talks which are being being used is cloning and gene editing using CRISPER. Talking about cloning he mentions it is quite good way of preserving animals from extinction but not for bringing the extinct one back as it requires the living source of that animal like egg or stem cells and the clones created usually die due to biological implications .Using the CRISPER gene editing seems better but not the best as we need to sequence the whole genome of the particular animal we want to bring back its like having a well preserved DNA if we got that then there is a must need that the closer relative of that animal is still alive after that they map the differences that are present followed by editing the genome making it identical to the required and hence new genome for hybrid animal is created and it follows the steps of cloning like implantation and surrogacy. Like cloning it has limitations firstly finding a well preserved genome is not easy after that any impurity due to degradation by bacteria and UV light increases chances of such sequences which may be harmful if translated to protein structure and ethically its painful for the surrogate mothers in addition their womb do not have same environment as ancient species and outer environment is completely different from the ancient Earth. Giving birth to those hybrids is painful for surrogate mothers and sometimes fatal too. As author says keeping aside the drawbacks if we look by the point of view of saving world by for example bringing back wooly mammoths with some gene editing in modern day elephants and sending them to places of Canada and Russia where they acted as key stone species protecting the environment. This the point where ques like the place where they once walked is more the same the continental drift and global warming along with humans it makes no sense to bring them back . Author correctly raises the concern of misuse and protection of surrogate mothers used for it while addressing the need of independent international body to look after the progress and ethics. Where some private companies are trying to work on another humans de-extinction which went extinct due to low survival. This is serious matter which needs to be governed and should be done with rules. NOW THE BIG QUESTION IS “ IS THIS EARTH AND THE SPECIES LIVING ARE READY FOR IT THEY LIVED FOR THEIR TIME AND GOT EXTINCT CAUSE NEW SPECIES HAVE TO EVOLVE NO ONE LIVE FOREVER ?”