Scientists are capable of bringing back extinct species

Question

Sky News article excerpt (claim bolded):

The Tasmanian tiger, a wolf-like marsupial that once stalked the forests of Tasmania could be brought back from extinction after a team of US and Australian researchers claimed a series of scientific breakthroughs.

Answer 1

This claim has some truth to it but can also be classified as exaggerated or misleading because the original article said that scientists are claiming to have made huge progress in the area of putting together the DNA sequence of a Tasmanian tiger, but this has not actually been done yet and the scientists are still in the process of completing the entire sequence. An article from CBS News included a scientist stating that they were “getting closer every day” to bringing back the Tasmanian tiger, which is a huge scientific breakthrough in itself but does not equate to fully having all the skills and resources needed to be able to do so right now. The original article also stated that having its genes is “only one step towards resurrecting it,” which shows that there is more that needs to be carried out in order to actually resurrect the species. Ultimately, this claim can be seen as exaggerated and misleading because the possibility of being able to do something (in this case, bring back the Tasmanian tiger from extinction) is not the same as actually being able to do it right now.

Sources: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tasmanian-tiger-scientists-breakthrough-bringing-back-extinct-thylacine/

https://www.biospace.com/press-releases/colossal-achieves-multiple-scientific-firsts-in-progress-towards-thylacine-de-extinction

Answer 2

This is a true claim. In the article provided Sky News Tom Clarke the author of the article states "The Tasmanian tiger, a wolf-like marsupial that once stalked the forests of Tasmania, could be brought back from extinction after a team of US and Australian researchers claimed a series of scientific breakthroughs." while even though this isn't a definitive answer that scientist are bringing back tasmanian tigers, it states that they have the capability too. In another article from Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) they say that "thylacine genome is about 99.9% complete, with 45 gaps that they'll work to close through additional sequencing in the coming months." with both of these articles and quotes I can say that, yes this claim is true since the scientist are capable possibly bringing back a tasmanian tiger. 

Comments

I think that this response is lacking research into the legitimacy of the authors claim that species can be brought back from extinction. I think it is important to inform the reader how old the article is especially when pertaining to science related topics. They did a good job citing another article source!

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I think this response may need a little more work in fact-checking this article. When checking the original article myself, this article links no scientific references or studies to support this claim aside from it's opening statement. And even then, it is non-specific. While the second article from CBS they linked does a better job of this, as they included links to their resources, I would have liked the poster to find additional corroboration than simply CBS since the first article does not support its claim well. However, good on them for finding the CBS article. More investigation is needed, however, to truly fact check this piece of writing.

Answer 3

The claim of the article is that "Scientist claim breakthrough to bringing back Tasmanian tiger from extinction". The claim the article makes is true. There has been a breakthrough to bringing back the Tasmanian tiger from extinction. The breakthrough being that the researchers have obtained DNA and RNA from a 108-year-old Tasmanian Tiger being preserved in alcohol. Therefore, making the Claim that a breakthrough has been made, is true.