Will we again see mammoths, which became extinct about 4000 years ago, walking the earth again?
It turns out that according to Professor George Church, of Harvard Medical School, the answer is yes.
In fact, last Monday the project he is running received a significant $ 15 million contribution, which will allow this thing to become a reality.
Prof. George Church says: "About 50 genetic changes need to be made in order to turn the offspring of the Asian elephant into a mammoth."
Researchers have already sequenced 21 species of elephant species and remains of frozen mammoths, found in the Arctic, and extracted DNA from them to create a hybrid closest to the mammoth itself.
The new animal will contain 10 inches of fat to protect itself, body hair and slightly smaller ears - so it does not lose heat.
Experts also plan to engineer the new elephant without wheat so that hunters will not have a motive to hunt it.
One of the main reasons for supporting the project, is because in the distant past herds of mammoths and wild horses helped preserve the Arctic system, so the success of the experiment may help stabilize the climate and prevent it from warming in these areas.
On the other hand, there are many opponents and skeptics on the issue.
Prof. Love Dalan, an evolutionary genetics expert at the Center for Paleogenetics in Stockholm, who himself researched the DNA of mammoths, believes that “this is an important project, but it is difficult to know whether it will come out of mammoths.
We do not really know what causes a mammoth to be such, we do not have enough understanding of the genetic load of the animal to recreate it.
Even if the project succeeds in the end, I guess these mammoths will be in some park or zoo.
I'm not against people coming to see it, but I don't think it will affect the climate, or really change anything. "
Leading British geneticist Torrey Reading also opposes the project: "Let's say we can produce such a mammoth, without dying in the process. This idea of preserving the climate by returning the mammoths to the Arctic is speculation, and not at all clear that it will succeed. However, of course it is an idea. Charming - and I understand why people are attracted to it. "
Either way, the ambitious project is still in its infancy, and the researchers themselves admit that they are only at the beginning of the road.