How far back do you think we can go? Over about one point two million years old. We are akind of opening the door to a future research discipline where we can go deep into time and study mac evolutionary changes, such as speciation events on many other species that also went through these big evolutionary changes around a million years ago. Beyond two point six million years, to my knowledge, there is no parma frost. So i think maybe the sort of environment puts an p limit to this. But we can definitely go more than one point two. My guess would be that it should be possible to go beyond two million as well.
Researchers sequence the oldest DNA ever recovered, and the people bringing art and science together.
In this episode:
00:46 Million-year-old mammoth DNA
This week, researchers have smashed a long-standing record by sequencing a genome that's over a million years old. They achieved this feat by extracting DNA from permafrost-preserved mammoth teeth, using it to build-up a more detailed family tree for these ancient animals.
12:18 Putting art into science (and science into art)
Art and science are sometimes considered disparate, but when brought together the results can be greater than the sum of their parts. This week we hear from an artist and a scientist on the benefits they found when crossing the divide.
We discuss some highlights from the Nature Briefing. This time, a neanderthal gene makes brain-like organoids bumpy, and uncovering the original location of Stonehenge’s stone circle.