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Pop legends David Bowie and Prince are among the high-profile stars to have met their maker since January – five times more than any other year.

But could this be the last time we see these much loved cultural titans?

Some cloning experts believe it is simply a matter of time before human cloning could change from being creepy science fiction and to science fact ...with human's rising from the dead.

And while they are many we would all love to have back, others like Adolf Hitler would be less welcome.

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The starting point is obtaining good quality DNA – then there’s the desire, money, know how and facilities needed to make the macabre mission real.

Bowie and Prince have been cremated in secret ceremonies.

But locks of their hair are thought to exist.

Teeth are also a good source of DNA.

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Canadian dentist Dr Michael Zuk is planning to clone the much missed music pioneer John Lennon using the assassinated Beatle’s wisdom tooth which he bought for $33,000 (£23,000).

He told Daily Star Online: "The experts say it is possible.

"Cells from teeth seem to be a viable choice. DNA damage can be repaired – perhaps using a close relative for reference.”

But why stop at much loved musicians, could someone use the teeth of a monster like Hitler?

According to Russian government authorities, the Führer’s skull and jaw bone with some teeth intact and is safely stored away in one of Vladimir Putin's vaults in Moscow.

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Russian officials says Soviet troops stored the skull and jaw away after their secret service found Hitler's partly burned remains outside his bunker following the collapse of the Third Reich in spring 1945.

Some believe the evil dictator fled via the Canary Islands to South America.

But the Russians insist he committed suicide along with his newly married wife, Eva Braun, and that they have the bones and photographs show the bullet hole to the head.

So if Hitler’s teeth and bones still exist could they be cloned and his copy secretly grown up to establish a Forth Reich?

Dr Zuk said: "If they are his bones, maybe, plus I understand he has some living relatives."

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It is known that Hitler and his evil scientists were obsessed with the possibility of cloning the ideal blond hair, blue eyed Aryan type.

A conspiracy theory has since grown up based on sinister Third Reich experiments that they developed the ability to clone.

This in turn spawned a book and later a film called "The Boys from Brazil" about the real life Nazi scientist Dr Josef Mengele cloning Hitler.

The evil Dr – known as the Angel of Death – did actually escape to South America.

There's no proof he ever cloned Hitler, but an intriguing theory exists that he was behind a phenomenon in the Brazilian town of Cândido Godói where one on 10 pregnancies end up with twins.

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Not surprisingly, the prospect of bring people back from the dead is deeply controversial.

Many countries such as the UK and the US have signed treaties forbidding its boffins from doing it.

But not all countries have signed up and more recently organisations have emerged announced their wish to clone animals.

Scientists in China are planning to open a mass-cloning factory by the end of the year.

Not only will it clone cattle, but the factory, which will be located in the northern Chinese port of Tianjin, will also cater to more specific needs by genetically engineering police dogs and thoroughbred race horses.

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The ambitious and futuristic facility hopes to be mass-producing one million cows every 12 months by 2020.

It is part of a $21m plan which is backed by the Boyalife group in collaboration with South Korean company Sooam Biotech Research Foundation.

Meanwhile in Russia, where Hitler’s bones are being stored, scientists have begun to clone extinct cave lions after the discovery of two ancient cubs in perfect condition in the Siberian permafrost.

Researchers in Siberia are opening a new laboratory devoted to studying extinct animal DNA in the hope of creating clones from the remains of creatures.

Some cloning experts believe the project could fail because the mammoths bones are too old and the same would go for cloning long dead humans.

Robin Lovell-Badge, a stem-cell biologist at the Francis Crick Institute in London, told Daily Star Online: "With respect to cloning dead humans, this could not be done with ancient material.

"But of course it could, in theory, be done with intact cells from recently dead people or with cells that have been deliberately frozen with cryopreservatives.

"However, this would be illegal in most countries and particularly in the UK."