Jack Horner is the paleontologist that inspired Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park" character Alan Grant, and Horner believes he can create a dinosaur within five to 10 years.
But not exactly like they did in the movie.
Previous attempts to extract dinosaur DNA in the 1990s were unsuccessful, Horner told Business Insider. DNA starts coming apart as soon as a cell dies, Horner said, and intact dinosaur DNA has never been found. "If you did the thing they did in 'Jurassic Park,'" Horner said (referring to the movie's solution of filling in DNA gaps with frog DNA), "you'd basically have a frog."
Horner has had 20 years to work on a new solution, and it involves birds.
In addition to the cool factor of growing dinosaurs, medical technology could benefit from new methods of growing vertebrae and neural tissue. Besides, Horner said, "if we can make a dino-chicken, it's pretty cool," and kids might get interested in genetics.
What about the idea that genetic engineering is "playing God?" Horner pointed out that genetic modification has been going on for thousands of years - it's called "breeding."
"People made chihuahuas out of wolves, for God's sake," Horner said.
