Imagine, on one side, a few famous but extinct species, like the dodo and the woolly mammoth. Imagine, on the other, a few famous and alive showbusiness figures, such as Peter Jackson, Paris Hilton and Tony Robbins.
In the middle, connecting the two, would be Ben Lamm. Lamm has spent much of his life setting up software businesses. Now aged 43 — “that’s biologically, epigenetically I’m 36,” he tells me firmly — he is leading one of the most ambitious biotechnology efforts on Earth. He is trying to use the celebrities’ fame and money, together with venture capital, to give new life to mammoths and dodos.
Woolly mammoths disappeared around 4,000 years ago, a time so distant that it predates the first series of The Apprentice. Colossal Biosciences, which Lamm co-founded, aims to bring back one of the creatures (or at least a creature resembling one) within just five years. “Extinction is a colossal problem facing the world. And Colossal is the company that’s going to fix it,” its website states boldly.