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BUSINESS Saturday 4 February 2023
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Bring back dodo? Ambitious plan draws investors, critics HEALTH

DOCTOR ON DUTY
By CHRISTINA LARSON Oranjestad
AP Science Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Hospital 7:00 pm / 10:00pm
dodo bird isn’t coming Tel. 527 4000
back anytime soon. Nor is San Nicolas
the woolly mammoth. But Imsan 24 hours
a company working on Tel.524 8833
technologies to bring back Women in Difficulties
extinct species has attract- PHARMACY ON DUTY
ed more investors, while
other scientists are skepti- Oranjestad:
Central tel. 585 1965
cal such feats are possible San Nicolas:
or a good idea. Seroe Preto tel. 584 4833
Colossal Biosciences first Women in Difficulties
announced its ambitious OTHER
plan to revive the woolly Dental Clinic 587 9850
mammoth two years ago, Blood Bank Aruba 587 0002
and on Tuesday said it Urgent Care 586 0448
Walk-In Doctor’s Clinic
wanted to bring back the +297 588 0539
dodo bird, too. Women in Difficulties
“The dodo is a symbol of EMERGENCY
man-made extinction,”
said Ben Lamm, a serial en- Police 100
trepreneur and co-founder A rare fragment of a Dodo femur bone is displayed for photographs next to an image of a member Oranjestad 527 3140
527 3200
Noord
and CEO of Colossal. The of the extinct bird species at Christie’s auction house’s premises in London, March 27, 2013. Sta. Cruz 527 2900
company has formed a Associated Press San Nicolas 584 5000
division to focus on bird- Police Tipline 11141
related genetic technolo- Ambulancia 911
gies. decades. Shapiro is paid ens, to create offspring efforts to save species still Fire Dept. 115
The last dodo, a flightless by the Howard Hughes that may in turn naturally on Earth. q Red Cross 582 2219
bird about the size of a tur- Medical Institute, which produce dodo eggs, said TAXI SERVICES
key, was killed in 1681 on also supports The Associ- Shapiro. The concept is Taxi Tas 587 5900
the Indian Ocean island of ated Press’ Health and Sci- still in an early theoretical Prof. Taxi 588 0035
Mauritius. ence Department. stage for dodos. Taxi D.T.S. 587 2300
The Dallas company, Her team plans to study Because animals are a Taxi Serv. Aruba 583 3232
A1 Taxi Serv.
280 2828
which launched in 2021, DNA differences between product of both their
also announced Tuesday the Nicobar pigeon and genetics and their en- Women in Difficulties
TRAVEL INFO
it had raised an additional the dodo to understand vironment — which has
$150 million in funding. To “what are the genes that changed dramatically Aruba Airport 524 2424
date, it has raised $225 mil- really make a dodo a since the 1600s — Shapiro American Airlines 582 2700
lion from wide-ranging in- dodo,” she said. said that “it’s not possible Avianca 588 0059
vestors that include United The team may then at- to recreate a 100% iden- Jet Blue 588 2244
States Innovative Technol- tempt to edit Nicobar pi- tical copy of something Surinam 582 7896
ogy Fund, Breyer Capital geon cells to make them that’s gone.” Women in Difficulties
and In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s resemble dodo cells. It Other scientists wonder if AID FOUNDATIONS
venture capital firm which may be possible to put the it’s even advisable to try, FAVI- Visually Impaired
invests in technology. tweaked cells into devel- and question whether “de- Tel. 582 5051
The prospect of bringing oping eggs of other birds, extinction” diverts atten- Alcoholics Anonymous
the dodo back isn’t ex- such as pigeons or chick- tion and money away from Tel. 736 2952
pected to directly make Narcotics Anonymous
money, said Lamm. But the Tel. 583 8989
genetic tools and equip- Fundacion Contra Violencia
ment that the company Relacional Tel. 583 5400
develops to try to do it may Centre for Diabetes
have other uses, including Tel. 524 8888
for human health care, he Child Abuse Prevention
Tel. 582 4433
said. Quota Club Tel. 525 2672
For example, Colossal is Women in Difficulties
now testing tools to tweak General Info
several parts of the ge- Phone Directory Tel. 118
nome simultaneously. It’s
also working on technolo-
gies for what is sometimes
called an “artificial womb,”
he said.
The dodo’s closest living
relative is the Nicobar pi-
geon, said Beth Shapiro,
a molecular biologist on
Colossal’s scientific advi-
sory board, who has been
studying the dodo for two facebook.com/arubatoday/