Will We Clone A Dinosaur?

If you use DNA taken from its myriad winged descendants, the idea is not as farfetched as it first appears

The short answer is no. The slightly longer answer is definitely not. The Jurassic Park idea--amber, insects and bits of frog DNA--would not work in a million years, and it was by far the most ingenious suggestion yet made for how to find dinosaur genes. Cloning a mammoth--flash-frozen for several thousand years--might just prove feasible one day. But dinosaurs, 65 million years old? No way.

It is only when you ask the question the third time that you begin to see a glimpse of an affirmative answer. Start with three premises. First, dinosaurs did not die out; indeed there are roughly...

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