Could cloning make it possible to bring dinosaurs back to life?

Cloning became the subject of an intense debate about 20 years ago when researchers from Scotland announced the first mammal created from a single adult body cell. Dolly the Sheep became an instant celebrity. Dolly is made up of the combination of an egg and a DNA, and the result was put into a mother who gave birth to her - having three mothers in the process.

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So the process did not include any sperm cell, contrary to how nature works. The same principle can be applied to restore dinosaurs or any other prehistoric creatures that once roamed the earth. The process is called "somatic nuclear transfer." It requires an egg cell and an adult body cell. The nucleus of each cell will be removed, then the nucleus of the adult cell will be put inside the egg cell. The newly engineered egg cell will be zapped with electricity so it will start dividing resulting in a clone.

The process, however, is not easy. Dolly is the only successful case out of 277 tries. With advancements in technology, the success rate has increased to one out of ten tries. Dolly lived for 6.5 years. Scientists say that she died of cancer, and the disease has nothing to do with the cloning process.

In another case, there was an attempt to revive the lineage of an extinct species back in 2013. Australian researchers created embryos of gastric-brooding frog which has been extinct since 1983. But the embryos died after a few days. Recently, researchers announced a plan to bring the wooly mammoth back to life.

Dinosaurs could be revived by having the egg cell of a crocodile fused with a preserved adult dinosaur cell.