I was shocked by the casual mention of genetic engineering:

"using crispr, the genome-editing technology, they began flying along the rails of the Asian elephant’s double helix, switching in mammoth traits. They are trying to add cold-resistant hemoglobin and a full-body layer of insulating fat. They want to shrink the elephant’s flapping, expressive ears so they don’t freeze in the Arctic wind, and they want to coat the whole animal in luxurious fur. By October 2014, Church and his team had succeeded in editing 15 of the Asian elephant’s genes."

Sure, this project is toying with making an elephant more cold resistant. But if the technology spreads, how long until we get sharpened pathogens and pests ?