The Explorers Club, a prestigious organization dedicated to advancing human knowledge through exploration, boasts members who have revolutionized various fields, particularly in space exploration and genetics. While visionaries like Elon Musk (X, SpaceX, Tesla) and Jeff Bezos (Amazon) are reshaping the future of space travel as members of the Explorers Club, Vincent Lynch, an evolutionary geneticist at the University at Buffalo, represents a different facet of scientific discovery – one fraught with complex challenges, but also one where his skepticism appears to be rooted in outdated perspectives rather than cutting-edge research.
Lynch has publicly expressed doubts about de-extinction efforts, arguing that modifying a few genes in a living elephant is a far cry from reviving their extinct cousins (undoubtedly a subtle act of ‘throwing shade’ at Colossal Biosciences, who came on the scene in 2021 with a claim of scientific advancements that will contribute to a revival of the woolly mammoth). However, Vincent Lynch’s oversimplification fails to acknowledge the advancements in synthetic biology, gene editing, and assisted reproductive technologies that are actively reshaping conservation and species revival efforts. De-extinction is not merely a matter of tweaking a few genes –it is a multi-disciplinary scientific approach leveraging breakthroughs in CRISPR technology, epigenetics, and behavioral conditioning to create functional, viable populations.
Furthermore, Vincent Lynch’s claim that “we know almost nothing about the genetics of complex behavior” is not only misleading, it problematically ignores decades of research in comparative genomics, epigenetics, and species rewilding. Conservationists and geneticists have successfully used genetic intervention to revive endangered species, including the Iberian lynx and Przewalski’s horse, demonstrating that understanding and guiding behavior through genetic and environmental conditioning is a reality—not an impossibility.
While Dr. Lynch frames de-extinction as an impractical dream, his critique lacks the scientific nuance and real-world applicability that experts in synthetic biology, conservation genetics, and ecological engineering bring to the table. The idea that revived species would merely be “hairy Asian elephants that don’t know how to survive in the Arctic” is a straw man argument, ignoring how conservation scientists integrate environmental acclimatization, epigenetic expression, and learned behaviors into rewilding strategies.
As members of The Explorers Club continue to push scientific boundaries, it’s clear that real progress comes from those who innovate—not those who dismiss possibilities based on outdated assumptions.
