Scientists want to resurrect the woolly mammoth. They just got $15 million to make it happen
BY KATIE HUNT, CNN
UPDATED 18 HRS AGO | POSTED ON SEP 13, 2021

(CNN) -- Bringing extinct creatures back to life is the lifeblood of science fiction. At its most tantalizing, think Jurassic Park and its stable of dinosaurs.

Advances in genetics, however, are making resurrecting lost animals a tangible prospect. Scientists have already cloned endangered animals and can sequence DNA extracted from the bones and carcasses of long-dead, extinct animals.

Geneticists, led by Harvard Medical School's George Church, aim to bring the woolly mammoth, which disappeared 4,000 years ago, back to life, imagining a future where the tusked ice age giant is restored to its natural habitat.

The efforts got a major boost on Monday with the announcement of a $15 million investment.

Proponents say bringing back the mammoth in an altered form could help restore the fragile Arctic tundra ecosystem, combat the climate crisis, and preserve the endangered Asian elephant, to whom the woolly mammoth is most closely related. However, it's a bold plan fraught with ethical issues.

The goal isn't to clone a mammoth -- the DNA that scientists have managed to extract from woolly mammoth remains frozen in permafrost is far too fragmented and degraded -- but to create, through genetic engineering, a living, walking elephant-mammoth hybrid that would be visually indistinguishable from its extinct forerunner.

"Our goal is to have our first calves in the next four to six years," said tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm, who with Church has cofounded Colossal, a bioscience and genetics company to back the project.

'Now we can actually do it'
The new investment and focus brought by Lamm and his investors marks a major step forward, said Church, the Robert Winthrop Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School.

"Up until 2021, it has been kind of a backburner project, frankly.... but now we can actually do it," Church said.

"This is going to change everything."

Church has been at the cutting edge of genomics, including the use of CRISPR, the revolutionary gene editing tool that has been described as rewriting the code of life, to alter the characteristics of living species. His work creating pigs whose organs are compatible with the human body means a kidney for a patient in desperate need of a transplant might one day come from a swine.

"We had to make a lot of (genetic) changes, 42 so far to make them human compatible. And in that case we have very healthy pigs that are breeding and donating organs for preclinical trials at Massachusetts General Hospital," he said.

"With the elephant, it's a different goal but it's a similar number of changes."

The research team has analyzed the genomes of 23 living elephant species and extinct mammoths, Church said. The scientists believe they will need to simultaneously program "upward of 50 changes" to the genetic code of the Asian elephant to give it the traits necessary to survive and thrive in the Arctic.

These traits, Church said, include a 10-centimeter layer of insulating fat, five different kinds of shaggy hair including some that is up to a meter long, and smaller ears that will help the hybrid tolerate the cold. The team also plans to try to engineer the animal to not have any tusks so they won't be a target for ivory poachers.

Once a cell with these and other traits has successfully been programmed, Church plans to use an artificial womb to make the step from embryo to baby -- something that takes 22 months for living elephants. However, this technology is far from nailed down, and Church said they hadn't ruled out using live elephants as surrogates.

"The editing, I think, is going to go smoothly. We've got a lot of experience with that, I think, making the artificial wombs is not guaranteed. It's one of the few things that is not pure engineering, there's maybe a tiny bit of science in there as well, which always increases uncertainty and delivery time," he said.

Skepticism
Love Dalén, professor of evolutionary genetics at the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Stockholm who works on mammoth evolution, believes there is scientific value in the work being undertaken by Church and his team, particularly when it comes to conservation of endangered species that have genetic diseases or a lack of genetic variation as result of inbreeding.

"If endangered species have lost genes that are important to them... the ability to put them back in the endangered species, that might prove really important," said Dalén, who is not involved in the project.

"I still wonder what the bigger point would be. First of all, you're not going to get a mammoth. It's a hairy elephant with some fat deposits.

"We, of course, have very little clue about what genes make a mammoth a mammoth. We know a little, bit but we certainly don't know anywhere near enough."

Others say it's unethical to use living elephants as surrogates to give birth to a genetically engineered animal. Dalén described mammoths and Asian elephants as being as different as humans and chimpanzees.

"Let's say it works, and there's no horrible consequences. No surrogate elephant moms die," said Tori Herridge, an evolutionary biologist and mammoth specialist at the Natural History Museum in London, who is not involved in the project.

"The idea that by bringing mammoths back and by placing them into the Arctic, you engineer the Arctic to become a better place for carbon storage. That aspect I have number of issues with."

Some believe large that, before their extinction, grazing animals like mammoths, horses and bison maintained the grasslands in our planet's northern reaches and kept the earth frozen underneath by tramping down the grass, knocking down trees and compacting snow. Reintroducing mammoths and other large mammals to these places will help revitalize these environments and slow down permafrost thaw and the release of carbon.

However, both Dalén and Herridige said there was no evidence to back up this hypothesis, and it was hard to imagine herds of cold-adapted elephants making any impact on an environment that's grappling with wild fires, riddled with mires and warming faster than anywhere else in the world.

"There's absolutely nothing that says that putting mammoths out there will have any, any effect on climate change whatsoever," Dalén said.

Ultimately, the stated end goal of herds of roaming mammoths as ecosystem engineers may not matter, and neither Herridge nor Dalén knock Church and Lamm for embarking on the project. Many people might be happy to pay to get up close to a proxy mammoth.

"Maybe it's fun to showcase them in the zoo. I don't have a big problem with that if they want to put them in a park somewhere and, you know, make kids more interested in the past," Dalén said.

There is "zero pressure" for the project to make money, Lamm said. He is banking on the endeavor resulting in innovations that have applications in biotechnology and health care. He compared it to how the Apollo project got people caring about space exploration but also resulted in a lot of incredible technology, including GPS.

"I am absolutely fascinated by this. I'm drawn to people who are technologically adventurous and it is possible it will make a positive difference," Herridge, the mammoth expert, said.

Motorcyclist killed in head-on crash along SC-8 in Greenville Co., troopers say
FREEMAN STODDARD, ANISA SNIPESPOSTED 14 HRS AGO

GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) - The Greenville County Coroner's Office was called to a deadly crash on Highway 8 near Walkers Hill Road in Greenville County Monday night.

At 8:44 p.m., a minivan was heading west on SC-8 and a motorcyclist was heading east on SC-8, according to Highway Patrol. The motorcyclist went left and over the center line hitting the minivan head on.

Troopers said the motorcyclist was not wearing a helmet, ejected from their bike and sadly died on scene.

The coroner's office has not yet identified the motorcyclist at this time.

Stay tuned as we work to keep you update.

Schools will need vaccine mandates for in-person classes to last, expert says
BY MADELINE HOLCOMBE, CNN
UPDATED 4 HRS AGO | POSTED ON SEP 14, 2021

(CNN) -- As kids return for a new school year and COVID-19 cases rise among younger age groups, vaccine mandates in schools may become the only way forward, a vaccine expert said.

Should schools require teachers and students to get vaccinated?
Yes
No
Undecided

"So far, we've not seen a lot of COVID vaccine mandates, even for the teenagers," vaccinologist and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine Dr. Peter Hotez told CNN's Ana Cabrera. "It's gonna have to happen if we're going to get kids through the school year."

New data published Monday from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that cases have risen "exponentially" among children, with the weekly case number showing about a 240% increase since the week of July 22-29, when the group counted 71,726 cases.

Much of the country is feeling the impacts of COVID-19's spread. Hospitals are overwhelmed by a rise in patients, relying on reinforcements to treat the influx, And some are barely coping.

"The only reason we are holding this lifeboat together is I have a federal disaster medical assistance team here, 14 people who have just been heroes to us. And, unfortunately, their deployment is over on Friday," Dr. William Melahn, the chief medical officer for St. Claire Health Care in Kentucky, told CNN's Kate Bolduan on Monday. "I'm going to lose 14 health care professionals, and I literally have no idea what we're going to do on Friday."

Vaccinations are the strongest form of protection against the virus, but only Americans 12-years-old and older are eligible. But studies for vaccines for younger children are underway, and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that younger children will be vaccinated by the end of the year.

"We're waiting for the companies to submit the data to the FDA, we're anticipating that will happen in the fall," she told NBC's Today Show.

Until vaccines are available for younger children, health agencies have promoted using masking, testing, ventilation and distancing to keep kids safe. And those measures will likely have to stay in place until there is a combination of high vaccination rates and low rates of disease spread, Walensky said.

Local leaders at odds against mandates
There has already been tension in various states over mandates for both vaccines and masking.

Despite Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's restrictions on who can mandate vaccinations, the San Antonio Independent School District has required district employees to be vaccinated against the virus.

And, on Monday, the state's Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the district and Superintendent Pedro Martinez over the mandate

"The decision to openly violate state law and devote district resources to defending Superintendent Martinez's unlawful actions is irresponsible," Paxton said in a news release. "But if school districts decide to use their limited funding to try to get away with breaking the law, my office will oppose them and uphold the rule of law in Texas."

In the wake of President Joe Biden's announcement that businesses the more than 100 employees must mandate their workforce either get vaccinated or regularly tested, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has said that cities and counties in Florida requiring employees to take COVID-19 vaccine will face $5,000 fines.

The mayor of Orange County, Florida, said that although the consequences could be costly, the county will not overlook the well-being of its community.

"It could be a lot of money. There is no question about it," Mayor Jerry Demings said at a press conference in reference to the fines. "At the end of the day, it is all of our goal to protect the greater collective of the people in our community, to keep them safe. That's the fundamental role of government."

In Iowa, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order on Monday that will, for the time being, allow the state's school districts to mandate masks in classrooms.

In response, Gov. Kim Reynolds -- who signed a law in May that bans local entities and school districts from issuing their own mask mandates -- said the state would appeal.

"Today, a federal judge unilaterally overturned a state law, ignored the decision by our elected legislature and took away parents' ability to decide what's best for their child," Reynolds said.

Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Thomas Ahart said the court's decision was "welcome news."

Effective Wednesday, students, staff, and visitors will be required to wear masks in Des Moines schools, the district said a news release.

Debate over booster doses
There is also is a debate over the need for, and the timing of, vaccine booster doses.

The Biden administration had announced plans to roll out a third dose as early as next week, pending FDA approval, but some experts say it is not needed yet.

On Monday, an international group of vaccine scientists, including some from the US Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization, published a paper in The Lancet saying the current evidence does not appear to support a need for booster shots in the general public right now.

The authors of the paper include two senior FDA vaccine leaders, Dr. Philip Krause and Marion Gruber, who will be stepping down in October and November, the FDA announced late last month.

Hotez, for his part, said he has seen evidence that boosters may "keep people out of the hospital, prevents long COVID ... and could restore interrupting asymptomatic transmissions."

"From the data from Israel, I come out strongly in favor of the boosters," Hotez said.

The FDA is scheduled to meet about boosters Friday, though the agency has been late in getting data to the agency's panel of outside vaccine experts, two sources told CNN.

An FDA spokesperson told CNN that committee members will receive materials ahead of the meeting.

"Our vaccine team is working around the clock on many priorities, including preparing for Friday's VRBPAC meeting," Stephanie Caccomo said.

Russia's Vladimir Putin is quarantining after several Covid-19 cases in his entourage
BY IVANA KOTTASOVÁ AND ANNA CHERNOVA, CNN
UPDATED 2 HRS AGO | POSTED ON SEP 14, 2021

Russian President Vladimir Putin is quarantining after several people in his inner circle tested positive for Covid-19, the Kremlin said Tuesday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin has tested negative for coronavirus and is "absolutely healthy."

Peskov told journalists in a conference call that as "several people" in Putin's entourage got sick with Covid-19 the President "must take a responsible position and not endanger the health of his colleagues." The spokesman did not specify who has tested positive.

Putin -- who was vaccinated against Covid-19 in March -- had a busy day on Monday. He held face-to face talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, met a number of Russian Paralympians and inspected troops taking part in military exercises in Nizhny Novgorod.

Asked why Putin met with Assad if there were concerns about his exposure to people who tested positive, Peskov said the event took place before the decision to quarantine was made.

When pressed on the matter by journalists who brought up the fact Putin told Russian athletes on Monday there were people sick with coronavirus around him, Peskov reiterated there was "nothing illogical" about Putin's schedule.

"First, I can say that Putin did not meet with Assad at the end of the day, it was at the beginning of the working day. And everything else, as the doctors completed their studies and the necessary procedures ... a decision was made. There is nothing illogical here. At that time [when the meetings happened], doctors were still doing their tests," Peskov said.

"Nobody's health was endangered," he added.

The Russian President acknowledged the existence of "identified cases of coronavirus in his environment," according to a Kremlin statement.

Putin also referred to the situation on a call on Tuesday with his Republic of Tajikistan counterpart, Emomali Rahmon, adding that he would have to quarantine for "a certain period of time" as a consequence.

The Kremlin statement said that Putin's scheduled appointments for the ongoing week will now be attended via videoconference.

"Isolation does not directly affect the work of the President. But there will be no face-to-face events for some time," Peskov added.

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Obamas, Bushes and Clintons teaming up in effort to aid Afghan refugees
BY BETSY KLEIN, CNN
UPDATED 2 HRS AGO | POSTED ON SEP 14, 2021

(CNN) -- Three former presidents and first ladies are teaming up to aid in a massive, bipartisan effort to welcome and support Afghan refugees that is being launched Tuesday.

Former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- along with former first ladies Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama -- are serving as honorary co-chairs for the group Welcome.US.

Welcome.US, the group said in a news release, is aimed at engaging "all Americans to welcome and support refugees, beginning with the individuals and families who fled Afghanistan" following the American withdrawal from the nation in recent weeks. After the biggest military evacuation in history, the Biden administration is now tasked with resettling more than 60,000 Afghan refugees in the US over the next several weeks.

About 17% of those who have already arrived are US citizens and lawful permanent residents and can head to their destinations without first passing through military bases. The rest, however, will go to bases to receive medical screening -- including Covid-19 vaccinations -- before they're relocated to communities around the country.

Welcome.US has gathered the former presidents -- as well as a bipartisan group of governors, including Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and Colorado Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, and other leaders -- to serve as a central point of contact for public and private efforts to help in the massive effort to help Afghan refugees as they establish lives in the US. It will connect and coordinate efforts among state and local governments, as well as non-profit organizations, corporations, universities and others, according to the group.

It will provide grants to non-profit organizations and will launch a six-figure advertising campaign "to highlight the need for all Americans to join the thousands of people who've already stepped up to welcome our new Afghan neighbors as they get settled and build their new lives." Also among those efforts, the group said in the news release, are support for housing via Airbnb; meals via Instacart; grants from Walmart, Starbucks and Microsoft; and ad credits from Facebook to promote the organization.

"Thousands of Afghans stood with us on the front lines to push for a safer world, and now they need our help," the Bushes said in a statement on the organization. "We are proud to support Welcome.US and the work to help Afghan families get settled and build new lives. We stand ready to show our new Afghan neighbors and the rest of the world how a welcoming and generous spirit forms the backbone of what makes our country so great."

It was not immediately clear whether former Presidents Donald Trump or Jimmy Carter had been invited to participate in the effort, and a spokesperson for the group did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.

Clinton and Obama joined President Joe Biden on Saturday for an observance of the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York City. Bush spoke at another 9/11 observance event in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, alongside Vice President Kamala Harris.

Trump, however, commemorated the 20th anniversary in a short video in which he praised first responders and lambasted Biden for the handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, before providing commentary on a boxing match.

Bush, meanwhile, used his remarks in Pennsylvania to criticize Trump without directly naming him.

"There is little cultural overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home," Bush said Saturday. "But in their disdain for pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit," a seeming reference to the violent insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6.

It's not the first crisis effort where former presidents have joined together for a common cause.

Bush and Clinton came together in 2005 to raise funds for those impacted by the tsunami in Indonesia and again in 2010 to establish the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund to aid with long-term recovery following a catastrophic earthquake in that nation.

Murder suspect in Club Kream shooting denied bond
THOMAS GORE, ANISA SNIPESPOSTED SEP 11, 2021

GREENWOOD, SC (FOX Carolina)- Officers with the Greenwood Police Department say a man accused of his role in connection with a recent deadly shooting at a Greenville Co. nightclub has been confirmed as the suspect.

Aaron Harper was arrested in connection to the shooting a Club Kream in Greenville County on Sept. 11, police say.

According to a Facebook post from GPD, the suspect led police on a short chase before fleeing on foot. Eventually, he was arrested near Cothran Ave., officers confirm.

Surge of parents decides to homeschool during the pandemic
BY CRYSTAL BUI
POSTED 59 MIN AGO
ATLANTA (WGCL) -- The pandemic continues to impact lives in ways many have never imagined. As the Delta variant infects more and more children, parents are forced to make difficult decisions about their students’ education.

Georgia is averaging 1,300 cases in children ages 17 and under, every day. That’s up by nearly a thousand since August 2, right before school started.

Some families are saying safety precautions in schools just aren’t good enough, and until then they have no choice but to look for another option.

“Sophia is high risk. She has arthritis,” said Lorena Trejo, mother of two in Cobb County.

Sophia is Trejo’s 9-year-old daughter.

“And she takes medication that lowers her immune system,” said Trejo.

The mother of two is fed up with covid-19 invading school districts across the state.

"The first day of classes, there was already a positive case in her class. We didn’t know anything until Wednesday when half of her class wasn’t there,” said Trejo.

Trejo pulled Sofia from Cobb County Schools, choosing to homeschool instead.

“I figured it would be better to keep her home,” said Trejo.

Trejo is not alone. This school year, more than 85,000 students will be homeschooled. That’s about 20,000 more students than an average year, according to the Georgia Department of Education.

“The prospect of homeschooling is very scary,” Judy Sarden, homeschool coach. “I always tell people, just because you pull your kid out right now, doesn't mean it's going to be forever.”

Many parents are coming to her, concerned homeschooling with cause their children to fall behind.

“Focus on reading, focus on math, focus on filling gaps... and providing an enrichment opportunity so your child can really pursue an interest. If you can pursue those four things, your child will be okay,” said Sarden.

Amy Winch is another mom. She may pull both her sons out of Cobb County Schools again this year. 3700 students have gotten sick in the district during the first month of school alone.

"How do you live with your decision saying, 'Well, I sent my children back to school and they got sick. And something horrible happened,’” said Winch.

While some parents are taking an additional burden of work, children are deeply affected too.

“I feel upset, and kind of mad, because it’s not really fair. Because I haven’t been able to go to school and have fun with my friends,” said Sofia Mundaray, is being homeschooled.

The Georgia Department of Education does not believe the drop in enrollment numbers will affect their overall funding; they said it’s likely new students coming into the district will make up for the loss.