Using Dinosaurs dna to bring them back to life.

[Yolanda]

If you've seen the films Jurassic Park then you know what I mean. Will this ever become a reality, what are the pros and cons of this actually happening and how hard would it be to do? Is there any evil millionaires like on the films planning to do this already in secret underground labs? What do you think about the whole situation?

[boxtops]

Haven't they identified the DNA in that woolly mammoth they found in a glacier a while back?

[Yolanda]

Have they used it to bring a mammoth back to life?

[wildwood]

From a layman's point of view, I would guess that they need at least stem cells from a live specimen to recreate an extinct animal. So I vote for no, although it would be interesting.

[jake-the-peg]

The oldest sections of DNA ever recoverred are a bit less that half a million years old

The Dinosaurs became extint about 65 Million years ago

So no that doesn't sound particularly likely.

Mamoths however only became extinct a few thousand years ago, and there are elephants that could conceivably act as surrogates.

There might still be problems preventing it but I guess there's a fair chance.

However there would be very serious animal welfare, ethical questions about doing it even if it turned out to be possible

[heathfield]

Those mammoths were deep frozen, so essentially, their bodies are still fresh and the DNA can be extracted. Dinosaurs are fossilized, their remains having been effectively turned to stone. And as we all know, 'You can't get blood out of a stone', (or DNA for that matter).

[sherminator]

Jake just suppose we did get dino DNA.. then would it be possible and what would need to happen?

Cheers

[4getmenot]

animals are extinct for a reason

[jake-the-peg]

With a clone you kill the dna in an egg and insert your preferred DNA

This isn't such a problem with mamoths - you could use an elephant - could be gestation problems don't know how long full term is for a mamoth, I'd imagine a miscarriage would be quite likely.

With a Dinosaur where do you even start?

An Ostritch?

Can you even get into the shell to perform the DNA insertion and repair the egg?

What temperature and conditions does it require?

There must be a hundred and one things we don't know and have no way of finding out

[sherminator]

(Firstly i have no clue what im talking about here, gotta get that in forst!)
if it was an ostrich egg does that mean you would be raping an ostrcih of its existence?

it would be get an egg insert dino dna and then watch it mutate into a t-rex?

is that roughly what would happen?

also would they be able to breed ok or would the gene pool be so small as to be useless?

Thanks!

[tigersam258]

as Jeff Goldblum stated in the film, "You were so busy seeing if you could, you didnt stop to consider whether you should." In my humble opinion, I dont think that there is much we could learn from bringing them back to life plus wouldn't it ruin the mystique of dinosaurs???

[sherminator]

no one said they wanted to?

I just want to know the mechanics of what process' would be necessary

[jake-the-peg]

Oh and of course there's more than one type of DNA

any clone would have the mitocondrial DNA of the mother.

So you wouldn't end up with a proper dinosaur anyway but some sort of strange hybrid

[mibn2cweus]

Might have a better chance of breeding one. Feed me Seymour . . .

http://upload.wikimed...ae%2C_New_Zealand.jpg

[sherminator]

Cheers jake. My plan for world domination will have to go back to being steal a nuclear weapon and hold the world to ransom!!!

[jake-the-peg]

Don't forget to ask for "one million dollars!"

Seriously nuclear blackmail is so last century and picking up the cash in used twenties is so heavy

You need to cross Avian and Swine flu and patent the antibody before releasing it on an unsuspecting world.

If this post suddenly vanishes - you heard it here first!

[sherminator]

haha cheers Jake! glad you got the reference!
I tried to be original with my dropping t-rexs with parachutes into the countries capitals but you cant beat the classic nuclear bomb idea!

also with your idea there has to be a joke in there about pigs might fly or something?

[sherminator]

also jake that last posts reminds me a bit of my favourite ever book!....if you like zombies! Read World War Z! its absolutely fantastic and deffo worth a read!!!!

[jomifl]

You wouldn't need the actual dna because it can be built up from parts if you know the sequence. you would need to know the bits that make one species different from the basic reptile dna set. Craig venter's organisation has been assembling bacterial genes and joining them together so it could be done for dinosars or anything else. How anyboy would manage to fund such an expensive project I cannot imagine.

[jake-the-peg]

//Craig venter's organisation has been assembling bacterial genes and joining them together so it could be done for dinosars or anything else.//

Anybody else spot the flaw in this logic?

Because something is possible in a bacteria does not make it possible in a higher organism.

[jomifl]

The key word is could. Not can or will. Mammalian genetic code is not so very different from the bacterial genetic code so the same principals apply so it could be done.