Bingo: Dino DNA

Okay, well not exactly DNA...just a protein sequence.

If you don't know what I'm refering to, you can read a poor overview at the media outlet of your choice. An abstract from the magazine Science is here.

If you don't feel like reading that little paragraph, it goes like this. While transporting a T-rex bone, it was accidently broken. Some of the shards were sent to a scientist who upon further analysis discovered some intact proteins (not an intact DNA sequence mind you). A series of tests showed that the sequence had more in common with birds than with reptiles.

Now this isn't exactly earthshattering news: it's been pretty well accepted that the branch of dinosaurs that included T-rex had a branch that evolved into birds. This is NOT to say that the T-rex evolved into a bird of course. It is pretty exciting to see that soft tissue has survived 68 million years, however. And of course this adds support to the prevailing theories concerning birds and dinosaurs.

I've been involved in a discussion over on the Fark forums: it turns out one of my fellow Farkers has a friend who is working to oppose this new discovery. It turns out there is quite a bit of bacterial and fungal contamination, with the potential to throw off the results. Now I am not swayed by this argument; the Dino test also did the same for mastodons "proving" they were closely related to elephants (duh). For a bacterial soup to contaminate and throw off the dino sample and just happen to make it look like a bird sequence is highly unlikely, but I'll accept as possible. But for it to happen a second time and again skew it to look like the hypothesized result (of a totally different group of animals to boot) is just too much for me. Also the challenge admits that in their analogous sample they didn't find the same collagen that the original author did, just many of the surrounding features (so called "blood cells" and other structures). Without the collagen, a very material found in multicellular organisms (and not bacteria) the critique seems unfounded. I was forwarded the poster that the challenger presented at some conferences, but since his work hasn't been published yet I am uncomfortable sharing it here.

It's pretty exciting watching the scientific process in action, even as an uneducated spectator. Theory, counter-Theory, egos and reputations on the line. The challenge is warranted, of course. With a major advancement caution is always advised (we don't need another Piltdown Man debacle); and the bacterial contamination is a red flag. However, at the end of the day I'm not swayed...and besides it's one step closer to humans finally being able to ride dinosaurs. To think: this quackery might actually be possible someday!