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 4 points 2 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

[–] mlg@lemmy.world 2 points 19 hours 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.

[–] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

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