Hello, what if we could bring back the woolly mammoth,
not for spectacle but to help save the planet,
or improve the success rate of transplants by growing human compatible organs in pigs?
What if everyone in the world could have their genome sequenced as easily as getting a blood test so we could spot diseases before they even appear?
These ideas might sound like science fiction, but they're being made reality by today's guest,
who makes a habit of finding solutions to the seemingly impossible.
George Church is a geneticist, molecular engineer and one of the pioneers of modern genomics.
A professor at Harvard Medical School and MIT,
he developed the first method for direct genomic sequencing,
helped initiate the Human Genome Project and founded the Personal Genome Project,
making huge quantities of DNA data publicly available for research.
Today he's working on some of the most headline-grabbing and often controversial science on the planet,
from de-extinction to virus-proof humans to slowing down ageing.
Clearly he's not a man to be slowed down himself,
not even by the fact that he has narcolepsy,
the neurological disorder that causes sudden sleep attacks.
In fact, George says some of his best ideas come in the moments between waking and sleep.
Perhaps we could all afford to do a bit more dreaming.
Professor George Church, welcome to the Life Scientific.
Thank you.