Genetic research “could engineer dinosaurs back into existence” within a decade, according to the paleontologist who helped inspire Michael Chrichton’s novel Jurassic Park.
Famed paleontologist Dr. Jack Horner, who’s been a consultant on all four films and is the real-life inspiration for Jurassic Park‘s dinosaur expert Dr. Alan Grant, believes we’re (optimistically) just five years away from genetically engineering a dinosaur.
When he first started advising Steven Spielberg, Horner and his colleagues believed the most viable way to bring a dino back to life was through tapping into ancient strands of genetic code. (The animated DNA cartoonthis link opens in a new tab from the first film does a good job of explaining where scientist’s heads were at 20 years ago.)