A fossilized mosquito preserved for 46,000,000 years was discovered with blood still inside its abdomen a rare snapshot of ancient life frozen in time

Article: https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/1015/46-million-year-old-mosquito-filled-with-blood-is-a-scientific-first

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[–] Lichtblitz@discuss.tchncs.de 20 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Even under the best preservation conditions, there is an upper boundary of 0.4–1.5 million years for a sample to contain sufficient DNA for sequencing technologies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_DNA

[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 16 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Yea, but you can get partial DNA sequences and then fill the rest in with frogs or some shit.

[–] Lichtblitz@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 4 days ago (2 children)

Depending on the source DNA seems to have a half life of 500-1500 years. This source calculates with slightly over 500 years. Permafrost samples may be more on the upper end of the scale but the message would be similar:

A study of DNA extracted from the leg bones of extinct moa birds in New Zealand found that the half-life of DNA is 521 years. So every 1,000 years, 75 per cent of the genetic information is lost. After 6.8 million years, every single base pair is gone.

https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/how-long-does-dna-last

[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago

I've been told on good authority that life... uh... finds a way.

[–] mlg@lemmy.world 2 points 3 days ago

Knowing our current tech landscape, some startup CEO will convince a bunch of investors that he can get an AI to produce the genome sequence using existing sequencing data to predict what dinosaur DNA actually was.

And even though it's obviously a rugpull, any hypothetically successful AI would probably just get stuck outputing genomes that result in different types of bananas.

[–] ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip 21 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Well not with that attitude. Have fun being dinosaurless while we're out here jousting on velociraptors

[–] Lichtblitz@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 5 days ago

If you say it like that, I'll happily abandon science to go velocitaptor jousting with you!

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

What if we used a time machine, go back in time, place a mosquito on a dinosaur, then when all full of blood place it into a cryogenic container that can last say 70+million years, go back to the present, find the container, and sequence the DNA?

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 7 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Why not just bring the mosquito back? Or the actual dinosaur?

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Science is supposed to be complicated, dammit! /s

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

Oh, you also attended Rube Goldberg University?

Good ol' RGU. The Fightin' Contraptions.

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 5 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

(That was the joke. Well, an attempt at a joke at least.)

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago (1 children)

It was too early in the morning for me to pick up on that.

My fault, not yours.

[–] Evil_Shrubbery@thelemmy.club 2 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

No worries, I get mistaken for a stupid person all the time (... but I added the word "mistaken" there out of my own hubris, deep down I know those are no mistakes).

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I think that was the joke

[–] AbidanYre@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

Probably