Japanese scientists have created the world's first cloned mice from dried skin cells.

The breakthrough could help revive dwindling populations of endangered species. However, the new method also has disadvantages. Due to the fact that freeze-drying damages DNA, the probability of having healthy cubs is only 0.2 to 5.4%. For example, in some cells, the Y chromosome was lost, which led to the birth of female mice from cells obtained from male animals.