An eclectic assortment of stuff: food, archaeology, fun, books, history, geekery, etc.
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on Jul 3rd, 2009
From ansa.it: No Etruscan link to modern Tuscans.
The current population of Tuscany is not descended from the Etruscans, the people that lived in the region during the Bronze Age, a new Italian study has shown.
Researchers at the universities of Florence, Ferrara, Pisa, Venice and Parma discovered the genealogical discontinuity by testing samples of mitochondrial DNA [...]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on Apr 2nd, 2009
From the BBC: Clues to ancient invasion in DNA.
Scientific evidence of an ancient invasion of Scotland from Ireland may have been uncovered by DNA techniques.
Researchers from Edinburgh University said studies of Scots living on Islay, Lewis, Harris and Skye were found to have strong links with Irish people.
Early historical sources recount how the Gaels came [...]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on Mar 11th, 2009
From the Independent: Mystery solved as tests prove Tsar’s entire family was murdered.
In the early hours of a July day in 1918, one of history’s most infamous murders was perpetrated on parents, their five children and their loyal servants in a cellar in the city of Yekaterinburg, central Russia.
The gunshot-and-bayonet murder of the Romanovs – [...]
Posted in DNA, books & lit, history & archaeology on Jan 18th, 2009
From Science Daily: DNA Testing May Unlock Secrets Of Medieval Manuscripts.
Thousands of painstakingly handwritten books produced in medieval Europe still exist today, but scholars have long struggled with questions about when and where the majority of these works originated. Now a researcher from North Carolina State University is using modern advances in genetics to develop [...]
Posted in DNA, animals, birds, insects, etc, history & archaeology on Nov 20th, 2008
From the New York Times: Regenerating a Mammoth for $10 Million.
Scientists are talking for the first time about the old idea of resurrecting extinct species as if this staple of science fiction is a realistic possibility, saying that a living mammoth could perhaps be regenerated for as little as $10 million.
The same technology could be [...]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on Oct 31st, 2008
From the New York Times: Phoenicians Left Deep Genetic Mark, Study Shows.
Posted in DNA, health, history & archaeology on Oct 24th, 2008
From discovery.com: Egyptian Mummies Yield Earliest Evidence of Malaria.
Two Egyptian mummies who died more than 3,500 years ago have provided clear evidence for the earliest known cases of malaria, according to a study presented this week in Naples at an international conference on ancient DNA.
Pathologist Andreas Nerlich and colleagues at the Academic Teaching Hospital München-Bogenhausen [...]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on Oct 1st, 2008
From the BBC: ‘Viking mouse’ invasion tracked.
Scientists say that studying the genes of mice will reveal new information about patterns of human migration.
They say the rodents have often been fellow travellers when populations set off in search of new places to live — and the details can be recovered.
A paper published in a Royal Society [...]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on Sep 30th, 2008
From New Scientist: Polygamy left its mark on the human genome.
Throughout human history, relatively few men seem to have had a greater input into the gene pool than the rest, suggests a study of variations in DNA.
Tens of thousands of years of polygamy has left a mark on our genomes that is a signature that [...]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on Sep 21st, 2008
From Boston.com: DNA indicates humans in N. America 14,300 years ago.
…a few years ago, University of Oregon archaeologist Dennis Jenkins and his students started digging where no one had dug before. What the team discovered in an alcove used as a latrine and trash dump has elevated the caves to the site of the oldest [...]
Wow, it’s not even an Onion article, nor is this April 1st. From Reuters: City uses DNA to fight dog poop. (Are they serious? Really?)
An Israeli city is using DNA analysis of dog droppings to reward and punish pet owners.
Under a six-month trial programme launched this week, the city of Petah Tikva, a suburb of [...]
Posted in DNA on Sep 19th, 2008
From the Los Angeles Times: Are you a born conservative (or liberal)?.
Die-hard liberals and conservatives aren’t made; they’re born. It’s literally in their DNA.
That’s the implication of a study by a group of researchers who wanted to see if there was a biological basis for people’s political attitudes. [continue]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on Sep 18th, 2008
From National Geographic: DNA-Based Neanderthal Face Unveiled.
Meet Wilma — named for the redheaded Flintstones character — the first model of a Neanderthal based in part on ancient DNA evidence.
Artists and scientists created Wilma (shown in a photo released yesterday) using analysis of DNA from 43,000-year-old bones that had been cannibalized. Announced in October 2007, the [...]
Posted in DNA on Sep 4th, 2008
If I were a quilter, I’d want to make a genome quilt.
Beverly St. Clair has originated a way of encoding genetic information in quilt designs. The four bases in DNA are represented as follows: [continue, see photos]
Link found here at Under A Western Sky.
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on Sep 4th, 2008
From The Telegraph: DNA could help identify 200-year-old Stronsay Beast.
A sea "creature" washed up on an island shore two centuries ago could be identified by pioneering DNA techniques.
The animal was dubbed the Stronsay Beast after it was found on the island in Orkney in 1808.
It was once suggested that it was a basking shark, but [...]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on Aug 21st, 2008
From the BBC: Uncovering the ultimate family tree.
The Lichtenstein Cave is a short drive away from Manfred’s village, deep in the Harz mountains.
This is the spot where Manfred’s relatives, dating back 3,000 years, were buried. The cave remained hidden from view until 1980, and it was only later, in 1993, that archaeologists discovered 40 Bronze [...]
Posted in DNA on Aug 15th, 2008
From the New York Times: The Genetic Map of Europe.
Biologists have constructed a genetic map of Europe showing the degree of relatedness between its various populations.
All the populations are quite similar, but the differences are sufficient that it should be possible to devise a forensic test to tell which country in Europe an individual probably [...]
Posted in DNA on Jul 25th, 2008
So I’m catching up on news items, and –oh my gosh! did you see this? From the L.A. Times: How reliable is DNA in identifying suspects?.
State crime lab analyst Kathryn Troyer was running tests on Arizona’s DNA database when she stumbled across two felons with remarkably similar genetic profiles.
The men matched at nine of the [...]
Posted in DNA on Jun 20th, 2008
From the Beeb: Adoptees use DNA to find surname.
Male adoptees are using consumer DNA tests to predict the surnames carried by their biological fathers, the BBC has learned.
They are using the fact that men who share a surname sometimes have genetic likenesses too.
By searching DNA databases for other males with genetic markers matching their own, [...]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on May 29th, 2008
From Authentic Viking DNA Retrieved From 1,000-year-old Skeletons.
Although "Viking" literally means "pirate," recent research has indicated that the Vikings were also traders to the fishmongers of Europe. Stereotypically, these Norsemen are usually pictured wearing a horned helmet but in a new study, Jørgen Dissing and colleagues from the University of Copenhagen, investigated what went [...]
Posted in DNA, computer stuff on May 29th, 2008
From discovery.com: Bacteria-Run Computer Solves Math Puzzle.
A new living computer, bred from E. coli bacteria instead of stamped from silica, has for the first time successfully solved a classic mathematical puzzle known as the Burnt Pancake Problem.
While this bacteria-based computer is more proof of concept than practical, a living computer might one day solve complex [...]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on May 26th, 2008
From Science Daily: A statistical approach to studying genetic variation promises to shed new light on the history of human migration..
Scientists from the University of Oxford and University College Cork have developed a technique that analyses shared parts of chromosomes across the entire human genome. It can give much finer detail than other methods and [...]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on May 24th, 2008
From The Telegraph: Orkney Islanders have Siberian relatives.
Orkney Islanders are more closely related to people in Siberia and in Pakistan than those in Africa and the near East, according to a novel method to chart human migrations.
The surprising findings come from a new way to infer ancient human movements from the variation of DNA in [...]
Posted in DNA, history & archaeology on May 9th, 2008
From Science Daily: Genetics Confirm Oral Traditions Of Druze In Israel.
DNA analysis of residents of Druze villages in Israel suggests these ancient religious communities offer a genetic snapshot of the Near East as it was several thousands of years ago.
The Druze harbor a remarkable diversity of mitochondrial DNA types or lineages that appear to have [...]
Posted in Canada, DNA, history & archaeology on Apr 28th, 2008
From the Vancouver Sun: Iceman’s family found.
Sisters Sheila Clark and Pearl Callaghan of Whitehorse clutched each other’s hands and blinked back tears Friday as they talked about their ancestor Kwaday Dan Ts’inchi, better known as Long Ago Person Found.
Eight days ago, 17 aboriginal people from northern B.C., Yukon and Alaska were told that DNA testing [...]