Decoding DNA a mammoth task

Sixty-six million years after they disappeared from the face of the Earth, the dinosaurs have become animal celebrities; children everywhere are fascinated by them. 

Tyranosaurus rex and diplodocus are as familiar to youngsters nowadays as lions and bears were to previous generations. Museums give the huge beasts prime exhibition space. Advertisers, toymakers, even Duffy’s Circus, are on the dinosaur band-wagon.

Credit for resurrecting the ‘terrible lizards’ must go to Hollywood. Blockbuster films feature scientists cloning dinosaurs on remote tropical islands, where the fearsome beasts inevitably run amuck. According to one story line, primordial biting midges, trapped in tree resin solidified into amber, have dinosaur blood in their stomachs from which DNA is extracted. Such insect specimens exist but is harvesting dinosaur DNA a real possibility?