Jurassic Park now possible!

[Kramodlog]

Or not. Blood was found in a 46 million year old mosquito preserved in shall, but DNA doesn't suvive more than 6,8 miilion years.

They do not give more info on DNA preservation. Is there a reason why it can't be salvaged?

 

[PigKnight]

The DNA just broke down over time.

Get some female frogs up in this and it'll go completely smoothly.

 

[Jet Shield]

Absolutely. Frog DNA is the way to go. Just make sure all your dinosaurs are female, and nothing can possibly go wrong.

 

[Kramodlog]

How was riding dinosaurs, Jet?

 

[Umbran]

They do not give more info on DNA preservation. Is there a reason why it can't be salvaged?

Even in a chunk of amber, or in a bone, slowly, over time, chemical reactions take place. Bit by bit, the DNA reacts with oxygen and minerals, and disperses. As that happens, information is lost - the chemicals are now scattered, and we don't know the order to reassemble them into.

 

[darjr]

If you want a dinosaur it looks like the best way is either to engineer your own DNA for them from scratch or 'parts' or breed out the 'bird' gene parts of a bird.

 

[Kramodlog]

If you want a dinosaur it looks like the best way is either to engineer your own DNA for them from scratch or 'parts' or breed out the 'bird' gene parts of a bird.

Interesting. Breading birds to devolve them into disnosaurs.

 

[darjr]

http://www.ted.com/talks/jack_horner_building_a_dinosaur_from_a_chicken.html

 

[Ahnehnois]

They do not give more info on DNA preservation. Is there a reason why it can't be salvaged?

Yes. The bonds that hold DNA nucleotides together are relatively weak; most of biochemistry is predicated on weak intermolecular interactions.

DNA has enough redundancy in its numerous bonds that it doesn't readily decompose, and the sheltered location in amber prevents most forms of catalysis that would naturally accelerate its decomposition. But over geological timeframes, it does slowly but surely fall apart. The nucleotides probably remain intact, but they're now no longer organized as D&D and the information that organization encoded is gone.

 

[Kramodlog]

Boring. Needs mor reptilians.