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A Harvard scientist has said it would be possible to clone a Neanderthal baby from ancient DNA if he could find a woman willing to act as a surrogate.

The process would not be legal in many countries and would involve using DNA extracted from fossils.

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George Church, a genetics professor of Harvard School of Medicine, said that the process was possible and that Neanderthals were intelligent beings.

They are believed to be one of the ancestors of modern man and became extinct 33,000 years ago.

He added that altering the human genome could also provide the answers to curing diseases such as cancer and HIV, and hold the key to living to 120.

The professor claims that he could introduce parts of the Neanderthal genome to human stem cells and clone them to create a foetus.

The Daily Telegraph