Original Text:
February 1, 2008 — Forensic scientists analyzing bones found in the Gobi desert discovered that the DNA within them could be surprisingly easily extracted. In an experiment designed to mimic the conditions that affected those bones, baking a particularly difficult sample made the DNA much more easily extracted, probably because it makes it easier to break open more cells and expose more of the DNA molecules. Mummies have always held secrets, but now one of them has led to a new DNA technique.
Our fascination with mummies has sold millions at the box office. Now these preserved people -- mummies more than 800 years old -- are helping scientists reveal the mysteries of the past.
University of New Haven forensic scientist Dr. Heather Coyle is experimenting with a new technique by going back in time.
These are skeletal remains recently gathered from a Gobi desert cave. Surprisingly, Dr. Coyle was able to extract DNA from these mummies, but when she tried the same method on a body found in the USA, she was not as successful. "We realized that the bone we were trying to process was not yielding DNA from the case we were working on," Dr. Coyle said.
Standard DNA procedure for bones is to freeze them. When Coyle and her team re-examined the mummy remains they realized the Gobi desert created a natural bone baking process.
"It makes the bone more brittle so it makes it easier to grind and break open more cells, so we think we are accessing more DNA to begin with," Dr. Coyle said. Dr. Coyle decided to mimic nature by baking the cold case bones for 72 hours. Liquid nitrogen was then poured into a pulverizer. The bone was placed inside, ready to be crushed. After a short cycle the bone was turned to powder and ready for DNA extraction.
Coyle hopes her new technique will someday help close the book on several cold case files.
Summary:
When I was in sixth grade, I learned about Egyptian mummies in history class. Six years later, I found this article about forensic scientists in Egypt and how they could easily extract DNA from mummies! Even though the mummies had been dead for thousands of years, their DNA was still present. This article made me curious. How does a person’s DNA last for thousands of years? I thought the DNA had decomposed long ago. Not only did I find this article interesting myself; my parents were also amazed when I told them about it. Lastly, I would like to point out that this article reminded me of the King Tut exhibit at my favorite museum.
However, this article could have been done better in two ways. First of all, I think the original text was too long. Second, I think the author’s writing style was a little too opinionated. This is a news article, not an editorial!
Lastly, I think this article should not only be used in schools, I also think people outside of school (friends, family, penpals, etc.) might find this as interesting as I did. Hope you liked my summary, and don’t forget to comment. That is all.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2008/0201-baking_out_dna.htm
1 comment:
There were 3 aspects that were well presented here. First, I liked kathleen’s first few sentences that acted as a hook to the reader. Second, even though the mummies had been dead for thousands of years, their DNA was still present. Finally, I liked how she puts in questions and adds some personal insight/information about the article.
There are two things that could have made this review better. First, I feel the review should had been a little longer. There needed to be a more thorough explanation of the article. Second, the information should had been separated with paragraphs. It is all clogged together.
The thing that impressed me most about this article was how easily DNA can be extracted from mummies.
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