NFL legend Tom Brady surprised the world by revealing that his current dog Junie is a clone of his former partner Lua, who died in December 2023. The revelation arose in an interview, where the former quarterback explained that the clone was created by Colossal Biosciences, the same biotechnology company that became famous for claiming to have recreated the dire wolf, a species extinct thousands of years ago.

Brady, who is an investor in Colossal Biosciences, dropped this news very strategically; The cloning process began when the original dog was still alive with a simple blood sample saved to preserve her genetic material and then used; Many might think that the company Colossal Biosciences gives second chances by cloning deceased pets.

The news quickly revived the debate about the million-dollar animal cloning market that has been growing among celebrities and millionaires; Companies like ViaGen Pets and Equine, the company responsible for cloning three of singer Barbara Strisen's dogs, charge sums that can exceed $50,000 per animal.

There are cases of owners who have cloned the same horse dozens of times, transforming what was once science fiction into a luxury business, but Brady's case adds an additional ingredient, his connection with Coloso Biosciences, the company behind ambitious de-extinction projects, including attempts to recreate the woolly mammoth and other disappeared species.

The company claims that these initiatives could help combat climate change, for example, by restoring frozen ecosystems with animals capable of compacting Arctic soil. Critics, however, consider the idea scientifically dubious and ethically risky, since increased genetic manipulation can lead to unpredictable consequences.

Still, Colossal Biosciences continues to bring in investment and coincidentally announced the acquisition of ViaGen on the same day that Brady revealed his cloned dog, a move that unites the two main forces in the animal biotechnology sector. Whether out of nostalgia or scientific ambition, the story of Junie, Lua's clone, shows that the future in which life can be replicated in a laboratory has already arrived and is increasingly accessible to those who can pay for it.

And what do you think? Will the next step be to clone human beings? Or will they already be doing it?