Ben Lamm, co-founder of Colossal Biosciences - which just announced it has brought the dire wolf back from extinction - explained how Chinese scientists had cloned and modified babies to be resistant to HIV. 

But he added there were rumors researchers in Beijing had also been tinkering with genes responsible for human intelligence, which prompted Rogan to let out a shocked 'ooh.' 

Lamm said on the latest episode of The Joe Rogan Experience: 'They actually were engineering babies, editing their embryos to confer a resistance to HIV now still to this day.'

He added: 'The CEO of BGI [Beijing Genomics Institute], which is funded by the CCP, has said that  they are looking at genes with humans, they are looking at what makes humans more intelligent, they don't shy away from this, this is not some conspiracy... this is something that is very real.'

Genetic editing of human embryos has been officially outlawed in China since 2003. However in 2018, Chinese scientist Dr He Jiankui revealed he had created the world's first genetically modified embryos. 

Doctors implanted them in two women and three babies were born who were HIV-resistant, but due to fierce ethical criticism, he was jailed for three years in 2019.

Rogan asked Lamm if China is editing genes to create 'intelligent kids.' Lamm noted such theories were 'under debate' - pointing toward rumors that China had collected DNA through Covid testing and was analyzing it for intelligence genes.

Between 2016 and 2018, Dr Jiankui modified the genes of embryos belonging to eight couples in which only the father was HIV positive. 

Using a gene-editing technique called Crispr-Cas9, he rewrote sections of the embryos' DNA with the goal of preventing the virus from being passed on.

Following his announcement, Dr Jiankui was promptly arrested and tried by Chinese authorities for 'illegally carrying out the human embryo gene-editing intended for reproduction' in 2019. 

Officials found him guilty of conducting 'illegal medical practices' and sentenced to him to three years in prison. He was released from jail in 2023.