Monday 21 October 2013

Jurassic Park-style "rebirths" possible - but the results might be unexpected

This week, a droplet of blood from 40 million years ago was discovered “frozen in time” inside a fossilised mosquito in a riverbed in Montana - eerily similar to the plot of Jurassic Park.

'It makes the film feel more real,' said tech site Gizmodo. Meanwhile, researchers in the Himalayas analysed hair samples of an unknown bear - which might be the elusive Yeti.

Scientists could not create a Jurassic Park. Where dinosaurs are concerned, the answer is no - DNA cannot survive in fossil remains, or in insects in amber. But a Neolithic Park - recreating beasts from 10,000 years ago may well be possible - due to frozen animals found in mountainous and cold regions.

Frozen remnants of other extinct beasts are already being used in attempts to rebuild long-extinct animals - such as mammoths, giant sloths and sabre-toothed tigers. 

The technology is there - or very nearly - but the resulting “rebirths” might create creatures with a sort of “identity crisis”, one scientist has warned.

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