{"id":26478,"date":"2021-08-22T19:32:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-22T19:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=26478"},"modified":"2021-08-24T10:33:36","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T10:33:36","slug":"is-it-possible-to-recreate-dinosaurs-from-their-dna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/is-it-possible-to-recreate-dinosaurs-from-their-dna\/","title":{"rendered":"Is it possible to recreate dinosaurs from their DNA?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

William Ausich<\/a>, The Ohio State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Curious Kids<\/a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Would it really be possible to get the DNA of dinosaurs and then recreate them? \u2013 Lucie R., age 5, Atlanta, Georgia<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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As a paleontologist<\/a> \u2013 that\u2019s a scientist who studies ancient life \u2013 I\u2019m asked this question all the time. After all, the scientists in \u201cJurassic Park\u201d (and later, \u201cJurassic World\u201d) used DNA to recreate dozens of dinosaurs: Triceratops<\/em>, Velociraptor<\/em> and T. rex<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you saw any of those movies, you had to wonder: Could real scientists do that today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Brachiosaurus
Brachiosaurus<\/em>, a herbivore from the Jurassic Period. In the background: a flock of Pterosaurs. dottedhippo\/iStock via Getty Images Plus<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The ABCs of DNA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

DNA \u2013 which stands for deoxyribonucleic acid<\/a> \u2013 is something in every cell of every organism that ever lived on Earth \u2013 including dinosaurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of DNA as molecules that carry the genetic code<\/a>, a set of instructions that helps bodies and minds grow and thrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your DNA is different from everyone else\u2019s. It determines many of the characteristics that define you, like the color of your eyes or whether your hair is straight or curly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DNA is much easier to find in the \u201csoft parts\u201d of an animal \u2013 their organs, blood vessels, nerves, muscle and fat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a dinosaur\u2019s soft parts are long gone. They either decomposed or were eaten by another dinosaur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
Made from fossils: The skeleton of a T. rex<\/em>. JaysonPhotography\/iStock via Getty Images Plus<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Is DNA in the fossils?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dinosaur fossils are all that\u2019s left of those prehistoric animals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Immersed for tens of millions of years in ancient mud, minerals and water, the fossils come from the dinosaur\u2019s so-called \u201chard parts\u201d \u2013 its bones, teeth and skull.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We find dinosaur fossils in the ground, in riverbeds and lakes, and on the sides of cliffs and mountains. Every now and then, someone finds one in their backyard<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Often, they\u2019re quite near the surface, and usually, they\u2019re embedded in sedimentary rock<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With enough fossils, scientists can build a dinosaur skeleton \u2013 what you see when you go to the museum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A fossil of Parasaurolophus<\/em>, a dinosaur that lived during the Cretaceous period in what is now North America. Kevin Schafer\/The Image Bank via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The trouble with \u2018dino-DNA\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But scientists have a big problem when trying to find DNA in dinosaur fossils.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DNA molecules eventually decay. Recent studies show<\/a> DNA deteriorates and ultimately disintegrates after about 7 million years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That sounds like a long time, but the last dinosaur died at the end of the Cretaceous Period<\/a>. That\u2019s more than 65 million years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dig up a fossil today, and any dino-DNA within would have long since fallen apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means, as far as scientists know, and even using the best technology available today, it\u2019s not possible to make a dinosaur from its DNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although it\u2019s too late to find dino-DNA, scientists recently found something almost as intriguing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They discovered DNA fragments in the fossils of Neanderthals and other ancient mammals, such as woolly mammoths<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that makes sense; those fragments are less than 2 million years old, well before all of the DNA would decay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Artist\u2019s illustration of a T. Rex<\/em> watching as an asteroid strikes the Earth, 65 million years ago. The asteroid crash caused an extinction event that killed the dinosaurs. Mark Garlick\/Science Photo Library via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Imagine for a moment \u2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Just for fun, let\u2019s imagine that somehow, sometime in the future, researchers came up with fragments of dinosaur DNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With only fragments, scientists still could not make a complete dinosaur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, they would have to combine the fragments with the DNA of a modern-day animal to create a living organism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That creature, however, could not be called an actual dinosaur. Rather, it would be a hybrid, a blend of dinosaur and, most likely, a bird or reptile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think that\u2019s a good idea? After all, the scientists in the \u201cJurassic\u201d movies tried that. And you know what happened there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com<\/a>. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And since curiosity has no age limit \u2013 adults, let us know what you\u2019re wondering, too. We won\u2019t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Ausich<\/a>, Professor Emeritus of Paleontology, The Ohio State University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

William Ausich, The Ohio State University Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com. Would it really be possible to get the DNA of dinosaurs and then recreate them? \u2013 Lucie R., age 5, Atlanta, Georgia As a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":26479,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3410],"tags":[10378,10374,6689,6786,1207,311,248,4620,10375,9777,10376,404,10373,9778,10377],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26478"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26478"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26495,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26478\/revisions\/26495"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}