14 DAY TRIAL // Those hoping that pet shops of the future will sell baby dinos alongside kittens and puppies are in for a disappointment. It turns out that, all things considered, it is highly unlikely that scientists will ever be able to extract dinosaur DNA from insects trapped in amber and use it to bring these ancient beasts back to life.
Ever since Spielberg's “Jurassic Park” was released back in 1993, ordinary folks have been fascinated with the idea that, given the appropriate tools and technologies, it could be possible for brainiacs to get their hands on dinosaur DNA samples and clone one or two such animals.
More so given the fact that, in the early 1990s, several scientists proudly announced that they had managed to extract dino DNA from ancient insects whose bodies had been trapped in amber for roughly 130 million years.
According to a new paper authored by researchers at the University of Manchester, these claims were anything but true to facts. Not to beat about the bush, they were pure mumbo-jumbo.
Writing in the journal PLOS ONE, these scientists explain that, despite the fact that they used state-of-the-art DNA sequencing equipment and technologies, they were unable to find traces of genetic material inside amber fossils.
This left them with no choice except conclude that it is highly unlikely that these fossils pack any traces of ancient DNA that scientists might obtain and toy with.
“Intuitively, one might imagine that the complete and rapid engulfment in resin, resulting in almost instantaneous demise, might promote the preservation of DNA in a resin entombed insect, but this appears not to be the case,” Dr. David Penney explains, as cited by Science News.
“So, unfortunately, the Jurassic Park scenario must remain in the realms of fiction,” he adds.
Dr. David Penney and his fellow researchers suspect that whatever traces of DNA scientists managed to pin down in amber fossils back in the 1990s were there because the samples they looked at had been contaminated.