I'm guessing the answer is heck no, since the remains are now fossilized but I'll ask it anyway.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060920/sc_nm/ethiopia_fossil_dc
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian scientists unveiled on Wednesday a 3.3 million-year-old fossil of a girl, which they believe is the most complete skeleton ever found.
The fossil including an entire skull, torso, shoulder blade and various limbs was discovered at Dikaka, some 400 kms northeast of the capital Addis Ababa near the Awash river in the Rift Valley.
"The finding is the most complete hominid skeleton ever found in the world," Zeresenay Alemseged, head of the Paleoanthropological Research Team, told a news conference.
2006-09-20 07:12:12 · 4 answers · asked by Expurt Spellr 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
DNA, like all other biological macromolecules, is clearly quite unstable, and spontaneously breaks down - especially when hydrated or "wet". In living cells, DNA is maintained by repair mechanisms, but after death DNA self-destructs at a rather rapid rate. Fossil DNA is extremely problematic.
It seems feasible that useful DNA sequences tens of thousands of years old could be recovered, particularly if the fossil has been retained at low temperature,” giving as an example DNA from mammoth tissue thought to be 40,000 years old. So, our knowledge of DNA stability makes it seem highly improbable that this molecule could be preserved for more than a few tens of thousands of years at most.
2006-09-20 07:18:03 · answer #1 · answered by tampico 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
3.3 million! That is a an old human! What a find! I don't believe we can do a DNA though, but the discovery itself is amazing, thanks for sharing this with us.
Take Care
2006-09-20 14:26:10 · answer #2 · answered by escapingmars 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If they did, I think it would be too old to be very helpful in any research.
2006-09-20 14:20:40 · answer #3 · answered by Beth 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes
2006-09-20 14:19:09 · answer #4 · answered by cmj 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋