哈佛医学院欲'复活猛犸象'

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.

哈佛医学院的乔治•丘奇教授率领的一群遗传学家计划复活4000年前灭绝的猛犸象，并设想未来能让这些冰河时期的动物恢复其自然栖息地。

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

该项目在9月13日宣布获得了1500万美元的投资。

Proponents say bringing back the mammoth could help restore the fragile Arctic tundra ecosystem, combat the climate crisis, and preserve the endangered Asian elephant.

支持这个项目的人表示，复活猛犸象可以帮助恢复脆弱的北极冻原带生态系统，应对气候危机，还能帮助濒危的亚洲象得以延续。

However, it's a bold plan fraught with ethical issues.

然而，这个大胆的计划仍面临伦理问题。

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

由于科学家从冻土中冷冻的长毛猛犸象中提取的DNA太分散和退化，所以该项目实际上不是克隆，而是通过基因工程创造一种大象-猛犸象杂交种，只不过看起来和已经灭绝的猛犸象相似。

Others say it's unethical to use living elephants as surrogates to give birth to a genetically engineered animal.

还有人表示，用活象作为代孕来生基因工程动物是不道德的。