It was the title of this article that caught my attention. It's close to Halloween, and what's Halloween without a little blood?
The article descirbes how a sample of Louis XVI's (that's the sixteenth one if you're counting) blood was found on a handkerchief that was inside an old gourd that had supposedly come from when he was beheaded. The blood was analyzed to confirm or deny that it was actually his.
The article is a description of and commentary on another article that talks about the results of this test. the language can get confusing, but in the end it seems like the anaylis article was trying to bend over backwards to prove that this blood was from Louis XVI, when there is a questionable genetic marker that may or may not actually code for blue eyes, which if it doesn't then it wouldn't be his.
What I liked about the article is that it made me think: what if we were able to get DNA samples from all the important people in history and break down what genes they have? Would it turn out that some lineages of kings and queens were falsified so the crown wasn't lost? Was there a large amount of infidelity that resulted in children but was kept quiet? I think it would be pretty neat to be able to break down history into genetic codes.
I agree with you, it would be incredible if DNA samples from all the icons of history were obtained. One way or another, im sure it would end up in history being rewritten in some form. It makes me think of how different history would be and how would it affect modren day if they had the knowledge we do now about genes. Perhaps some people would not have been hung for murders or like you stated, some lineages could have even been proven false!
ReplyDeleteThis is a really awesome article. I agree with both of you. I would definitely like to look at the DNA of some of the world's greatest historical figures. It would also be really interesting to see if some of the royal families blood lines really were pure, or if some of it was falsified. It's pretty cool when genetics and history can be used together. I'm just curious how the blood sample wasn't degraded considering it was from over 200 years ago?
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