4 ms·
Reading out complete fossilized DNA would be cool.
by ufocia 3y ago
Reading out complete fossilized DNA would be cool.
- mysterydip 3y agoWould also be interesting to see how much of it has changed compared with current grasshoppers
- MPSimmons 3y agoDNA has a pretty hard lifespan of under a couple million years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_DNA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_DNA
- TravisCooper 3y agoImpossible. DNA degrades very quickly. Half-life is ~520 years, and you'd assume any "storage" done quickly and ad-hoc (as these things always are) would not be ideal conditions to maximize this number.
- praptak 3y agoThat's the typical half life. The record is ~2 million years, obviously just tiny fragments https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/unlocking-the-oldest-known-dna-revealed-a-lost-greenland-from-2-million-years-ago https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/unlocking-the-oldest-kn...
- robertlagrant 3y ago> That's the typical half life. The record is ~2 million years, obviously just tiny fragments Half-life of DNA is the time it takes for half the bonds to snap. Far longer than 2 million years is achievable based on that half-life, at least under ideal conditions.
- jahewson 3y agoAnd that’s just tiny fragments too.
- helpfulContrib 3y ago[dead]