DTN 108: Game of Clones

“Let's say you're in the mining industry and want to look at the largest mine in Utah. You drag and drop a box over that location in our app and specify the time you want an image. We show you the price for the type of image you want there and then, you 'add to cart,' and checkout. That action tasks a satellite. Our algorithm goes to our constellation and determines which satellite is best for capturing your requested image. You get the image delivered as soon as the conditions are right.”

“Somewhere in the northern US, drones fly over a 2,000-acre preserve, protected by a nine-foot fence built to zoo standards. It is off-limits to curious visitors, especially those with a passion for epic fantasies or mythical creatures. The reason for such tight security? Inside the preserve roam three striking snow-white wolves—which a startup called Colossal Biosciences says are members of a species that went extinct 13,000 years ago, now reborn via biotechnology.

For several years now, the Texas-based company has been in the news for its plans to re-create woolly mammoths someday. But now it’s making a bold new claim—that it has actually “de-extincted” an animal called the dire wolf.”