Potential Recovery of Dinosaur DNA!

 This article details an account which claims that $125 million-year-old DNA has been recovered from a dinosaur called Caudipteryx. Scientists claim that the fragments of chromatin and nuclei within the fossil could contain preserved DNA, which could then be extracted and studied. However, mass skepticism surrounds this idea. Currently, the oldest sequenced DNA belongs to a million year old woolly mammoth, and, given how long ago dinosaurs went extinct, the idea of sequencing multi-millions of years old DNA is nearly unheard of… This is due to DNA's fragility. The dinosaur DNA was allegedly extracted from fossilized femur cartilage, found in China. This fossil was exceptionally preserved, as the site it was found at is known for fossilization via fine volcanic ash- prime preservation conditions. However, the main concern surrounding this is the idea that the genetic material being found could actually be from microbes on the fossils, not the dinosaurs themselves. This is a problem that researchers commonly run into, not only with dinosaurs, but other ancient organisms as well.

Personally, I think that the concept of being able to study ancient DNA, and then further learn from it in the present day, is fantastical. However the obvious problems of being unable to differentiate between modern organisms and fossil DNA is a major setback. Additionally, due to DNA's tendency to break down over time, unfortunately, I am also a skeptic in regards to whether or not DNA was actually recovered from this dinosaur. However, if somehow we were able to develop a way to differentiate modern versus ancient DNA, I think it would be amazing to compare ancient DNA to modern DNA, and see just how similar dinosaur DNA is to that of modern organisms. 

Dinosaur Proteins Can Teach Us A lot

As we all know, scientist can pull DNA from bones- just the older the bona and the DNA get, the more unstable it becomes. But, recent studies have shown that researcher were able to confirm that it is possible to still pull DNA from 80-million-year-old. In hopes this is successful, this could give researchers a better understanding of evolution and environmental changes. Researcher also think if they can pull DNA from these bones, now drug discoveries could be made and more information on extraterrestrial life can be discovered. Mary Schweitzer, PhD, and her team have shown it is possible to remove DNA. With the help of removing this DNA, she plans on focusing on accents proteins, and learning different ways to get more information with out damaging what they are studying as much.  She would also like to study the origin of proteins and how they have changed- as she believes DNA only changes when proteins change. I think extracting DNA from million year old organisms is a gateway to many ideas and opportunities in genetics. We still have so much to discover about DNA and if we can learn from aged organisms and related the changes between DNA, it would give great intel on evolution and how organism have changed and adapted.

 Extracting Dinosaur Protiens

Jurassic Park Returns!

          In the article, British Scientists Clone Dinosaur, the journalist provides jaw-dropping news about how scientists were able to recreate an Apatosaurus, which they named the baby "Spot." The dinosaur is now being incubated at John Moore University in Liverpool (Merseyside, England). How did they do it? Well, the scientists retrieved DNA from the well preserved Apatosaurus fossils and then they implanted it into an ostrich's womb. The reason why they used an ostrich as a sort of surrogate mother is because ostriches and dinosaurs have a lot of genetic traits in common, says Dr.Gerrard Jones who is a biology professor at the university. He also says that the microstructures of their eggshells are practically the same and that's why it worked so smoothly. This experiment is the first ever done in genetic engineering, and because of this event, it has caused quite a controversy between animal rights advocates and religious groups. But as of now, the dinosaur is happily stable and scientists can't wait to see what the future holds for the little Apatosaurus.

         Even though this is a breakthrough for science, I highly doubt that Spot the Apatosaurus will be able to survive long enough for it to grow into a full sized adult. I feel like it's body wouldn't be able to handle our environment because it's so different from the world that they once thrived in. Nonetheless, it is pretty amazing that there is a living dinosaur as of now. I hope we can learn new things about the dinosaur and hope that it survives.

To learn more about Apatosaurus dinosaurs click here: http://www.livescience.com/25093-apatosaurus.html
To read the original article click here: http://news-hound.biz/british-scientists-clone-dinosaur/