Science could be bringing back the woolly mammoth in this decade, and can we ride it?

No, this isn’t a weird dream you’re having. As The Guardian reports, there is a group of Harvard scientists leading a woolly mammoth “de-extinction” effort. You know, for the species that has been extinct for 4,000 years. And as one of the scientists, Professor George Church tells it, the team is just a couple years away from Jurassic Park-ing the mammoth back to life.

“Our aim is to produce a hybrid elephant-mammoth embryo. Actually, it would be more like an elephant with a number of mammoth traits. We’re not there yet, but it could happen in a couple of years.”

Got that? So basically the Harvard scientists will be programming woolly mammoth traits into an Asian elephant.

The scientists will pull off this science fiction move by splicing DNA found found in preserved woolly mammoth remains into Asian elephant DNA.

As you may have guessed, this project has its critics. As the Guardian reports, Matthew Cobb, a professor of zoology at the University of Manchester, raises the issue of woolly mammoths being social creatures. Is it unethical to bring a social creature into a world where it would be the only one of its kind? Then there are conservationists who argue that “de-extinction” is a distraction, and what we should really be focusing on is ensuring that currently living species don’t go extinct.

Still, Church and his team believe they are ethically in the right. He believes that by de-extinct-ing the woolly mammoth he could help save the Asian elephant, an endangered species. But, you know, in a slightly woolier form. Church also argues that the de-extinct woolly mammoth could help combat climate change. As he told the Guardian:

“They keep the tundra from thawing by punching through snow and allowing cold air to come in. In the summer they knock down trees and help the grass grow.”

So basically, by preventing the tundra permafrost from melting, the mammophants would be preventing a ton of greenhouse gasses from escaping into the atmosphere.