In a move that seems straight out of the movie Jurassic Park, a company hoping to bring extinct species back to life through genetic engineering has used similar technology to create a woolly mouse.
Unveiled by US biotechnology and genetic engineering company Colossal Biosciences, the animal has a shaggy coat and an altered fat metabolism to make it able to cope with cold temperatures. Equivalent genetic engineering is being carried out with Asian elephants with the aim of producing animals that resemble woolly mammoths and can cope with icy conditions.
Colossal Biosciences also hopes to recreate the dodo, a flightless bird, and the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine, a carnivorous marsupial from Australia. The woolly mouse is the most visible result of several years of laboratory work to understand the genetic differences between the extinct species and similar living creatures. Dr Beth Shapiro, Colossal Biosciences’ chief scientific officer, told The National that the woolly mouse was “a really exciting accomplishment”.
“We’re editing cells, we have cell lines that have multiple edits in them, but with these species, it’s very hard to then turn them into a living animal so that we can see the end product of all the work that we put into this. The mouse makes this possible,” she said. “We’re using changes that we know occur in healthy, living mice; we’re not putting mammoth DNA into a mouse.”
New frontiers
Colossal Biosciences modified seven genes linked to cold tolerance, resulting in effects including a lighter, wavier and thicker coat. A gene called fibroblast growth factor 5 or FGF5 has been deactivated, causing the animals to have hair up to three times the normal length. Knocking out the activity of other genes affects the development and structure of hair follicles, resulting in woolly hair texture, wavy coats and curled whiskers.
A modification to the gene known as MC1R, which regulates production of the pigment melanin, causes the mice to have golden hair. A gene affecting fat metabolism has also been edited. To produce a woolly mammoth, which lived in northern Europe’s cold tundra regions before being driven to extinction 4,000 years ago, Colossal Biosciences expects to have to edit around 85 genes in the Asian elephant.
Analysis of the genomes of woolly, Columbian and steppe mammoths ranging in age from 3,500 to 1.2 million years old, and of African and Asian elephants, enabled the firm to identify the target genes. “The work that’s been done on the woolly mice that we’ve produced helps us validate the phenotypes or physical attributes that come from the gene targets that we’re already editing in the Asian elephant cells,” Ben Lamm, Colossal Biosciences’ co-founder and chief executive, told The National.
The aim is to create the first mammoth embryos late next year and, with a 22-month gestation time, the first calves could arrive in 2028. Mr Lamm said this means one of the other animals the company is recreating, the dodo or the thylacine, will probably arrive before the woolly mammoth.
Colossal Biosciences, which was founded in 2021 and has its headquarters in Texas, has sparked headlines because a recent $200 million investment valued the company at a claimed $10.2 billion, reflecting the likelihood that its technologies will have lucrative spin-off uses in fields such as health care. While it has captured the interest of the public and investors, the company’s work has proved controversial.
Ecological concerns
As the ultimate aim is to reintroduce these lost species to the wild, experts in the field have raised questions are the necessity or ethicalness of the project. Prof Andrew Knight, a veterinary surgeon and adjunct professor of animal welfare at Griffith University in Australia, said that while “on the face of it, it could be a wonderful thing to bring these animals back”, there were “major concerns” related to animal welfare.
He said that genetic modification had “very high failure rates”, with most implanted embryos not resulting in live births, and with surviving animals often more susceptible to disease. Prof Knight said that the mothers of these genetically engineered animals also face risks.
He added that if a genetically modified animal was raised by animals different to itself – as would be the case with the first woolly mammoth calves – there could be problems, because the offspring may have “different social needs [and be] driven by different psychological urges”.
“I think the resources would be better spent trying to preserve some of the existing animals that are in danger of going extinct,” Prof Knight said.
Dr Alexander Lees, a reader on conservation biology at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK, said that a major challenge for de-extinction animals is that “rapid global change means it is unclear if they can fit neatly back into a much-changed world”.
Climate change means, he said, that any release into the wild would probably have to take place in an area geographically separate from where the species last existed, albeit within the same climate niche.
“That does mean that we can't easily predict interactions between the newly introduced species and native wildlife,” Dr Lees said. “However, it would seem unlikely that species that were historically extinction prone are likely to behave as invasives, and introduction failure seems a far more likely outcome.”
He said that species reintroductions often failed because the original problems that caused the extinction had not gone away.
In the case of the dodo, for example, habitat loss and predation by introduced mammals and by people caused extinction, and today the bird’s native island of Mauritius has, Dr Lees said, less than two per cent of the creature’s original habitat. “Even if a dodo-like creature could be created, there is little chance for a successful reintroduction given the realities of the 21st century,” he said.
Animal welfare
Dr Shapiro said Colossal Biosciences undertakes extensive screening of cells and computational analysis to ensure that only the correct edits to the animals’ genomes are carried out. “We do an extremely careful screening process before we even begin modifying these animals,” she said.
“Because we’re selecting variants that we know are compatible with healthy, living animals, this is yet another quality control that we put into place to make sure, as best we can, that there are going to be high efficiencies.”
Mr Lamm described animal welfare considerations as “critical” for the company, which he said worked with the American Humane Society to ensure its actions were ethical. He also said Colossal Biosciences was making its technology available free of charge to dozens of conservation organisations.
“Some of these technologies don’t always get the best view because many of the people who use these technologies are doing it for medical research, for other things; they’re not doing it to make more animals or to save species,” he said. “If we didn’t do all this screening and didn’t look to increase the efficiencies, it would be against the core ethos of what we stand for, being a conservation company.”
He said Colossal Biosciences is “100 per cent confident” that it will recreate extinct animals, and will do so “correctly and ethically”.
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Toyota land Cruiser 2020 5.7L VXR
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ONCE UPON A TIME IN GAZA
Starring: Nader Abd Alhay, Majd Eid, Ramzi Maqdisi
Directors: Tarzan and Arab Nasser
Rating: 4.5/5
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How to register as a donor
1) Organ donors can register on the Hayat app, run by the Ministry of Health and Prevention
2) There are about 11,000 patients in the country in need of organ transplants
3) People must be over 21. Emiratis and residents can register.
4) The campaign uses the hashtag #donate_hope
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
Pakistan T20 series squad
Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shahzad, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Hafeez, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Mohammed Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Amir Yamin, Mohammed Amir (subject to fitness clearance), Rumman Raees, Usman Shinwari, Umar Amin
The specS: 2018 Toyota Camry
Price: base / as tested: Dh91,000 / Dh114,000
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 298hp @ 6,600rpm
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Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now
Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.
The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.
1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):
a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33
b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.
2. For those who have worked more than five years
c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.
Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.
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The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
Europe’s rearming plan
- Suspend strict budget rules to allow member countries to step up defence spending
- Create new "instrument" providing €150 billion of loans to member countries for defence investment
- Use the existing EU budget to direct more funds towards defence-related investment
- Engage the bloc's European Investment Bank to drop limits on lending to defence firms
- Create a savings and investments union to help companies access capital
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