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Staggering Breakthrough
Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:36 pm
by Minimalist
http://www.kstp.com/article/stories/S45 ... ml?cat=172
Dinosaur Research Backs Link to Birds
Researchers have decoded proteins from a 68 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex, the oldest such material ever found. The unprecedented step, once thought impossible, adds new weight to the idea that today’s birds are descendants of the mighty dinosaurs.
Creationism gets a 68 million year old kick in the ass!
Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:56 pm
by Charlie Hatchett
He was able to identify seven different dinosaur proteins from the bone and compared them with proteins from living species. Three matched chickens, two matched several species including chickens, one matched a protein from a newt and the other from a frog.
I wonder how many protiens are shared between species that are not thought to have evolved along the same evolutionary lines?

Amazing how long soft tissue can be preserved.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:12 pm
by Minimalist
Just the fact that they have developed a technique to trace them opens up enormous avenues of research.
Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:32 pm
by john
Newt and frog, huh?
Not so fast, you wannabe scientists.
From Willie the Shake's Macbeth, the three witches............with elisions........
Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble ........
Eye of newt and toe of frog ............
It ain't science.
It ain't creationism.
Its WITCHCRAFT.
Cheers,
john
Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:32 pm
by Rokcet Scientist
Like the migrations of homo sapiens sapiens and its constituent races.
Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:41 pm
by Charlie Hatchett
Just the fact that they have developed a technique to trace them opens up enormous avenues of research.
Right? I mean, if we can extract proteins from dinos, we should eventually be able to unravel some H. erectus DNA.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:24 pm
by Beagle
Hmmm I thought that was a done deal.
The vast majority of our genetic material is classified as "junk" DNA. It's probably remnants of all that we ever have been. We have a lot of discovery to do regarding this "junk". It probably contributes to our remarkable adaptability.
Junk DNA
Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:57 pm
by Cognito
The vast majority of our genetic material is classified as "junk" DNA. It's probably remnants of all that we ever have been. We have a lot of discovery to do regarding this "junk". It probably contributes to our remarkable adaptability.
"One person's junk is another person's treasure"? You are correct, it ain't all junk. Many ancient viral disease markers are encoded in "junk DNA" and can tell us much about our past. Traces of ancient history reside there in ways that will eventually be documented and dated.
Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 3:51 am
by Charlie Hatchett
Hmmm I thought that was a done deal.
What's a done deal?
BTW, the article Min posted above reminds me of Holden's article published a few years back:
"...A team at the University of Alabama just may have succeeded in extracting some DNA from a dinosaur. And guess what it resembles: a turkey...Matching the sequence against DNA samples from 28 animals, including 13 bird species, they found that it made a 100% match with the turkey..."
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/s ... /5464/238b
100% Turkey DNA, ey...

Somebody probably dropped a bit of their lunch into the excavation.

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:20 am
by Forum Monk
Can I have a drumstick?

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:40 am
by Charlie Hatchett
Forum Monk wrote:Can I have a drumstick?

Damn it, Monk, now I'm hungry.

Re: Junk DNA
Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:45 am
by Charlie Hatchett
Cognito wrote:The vast majority of our genetic material is classified as "junk" DNA. It's probably remnants of all that we ever have been. We have a lot of discovery to do regarding this "junk". It probably contributes to our remarkable adaptability.
"One person's junk is another person's treasure"? You are correct, it ain't all junk. Many ancient viral disease markers are encoded in "junk DNA" and can tell us much about our past. Traces of ancient history reside there in ways that will eventually be documented and dated.
Agreed. Now will you hurry up and post your artifacts over at Virginia's board. I was reading the Calico section this morning and I noticed you still haven't posted them. Might have to whack you upside the head...
Seriously though, dude, get those suckers posted.

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:55 am
by Forum Monk
"Most people believe that birds evolved from dinosaurs, but that’s all based on the architecture of the bones," said Asara. "This allows you to get the chance to say, ’Wait, they really are related because their sequences are related.’ We didn’t get enough sequences to definitively say that, but what sequences we got support that idea."
Emphasis mine
This kind of 'rush to judgment' more often than not results in someone eating the 'bird'.
Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:17 am
by Charlie Hatchett
This kind of 'rush to judgment' more often than not results in someone eating the 'bird'.

Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:10 am
by Minimalist
Forum Monk wrote:Can I have a drumstick?

If you can wrestle it into the oven you can have whatever you like.