DStv Channel 403 Thursday, 12 December 2024

World’s oldest DNA extracted in Greenland

They found the DNA fragments frozen in a remote part of Greenland

COPENHAGEN - Scientists have stumbled on a 2-million-year-old DNA specimen in Greenland.

It's the oldest ever extracted from sediment from the Ice Age.

Frozen in a remote area, the DNA had been well preserved.

READ: Thinning Greenland ice sheet may mean more sea level rise: study

New technology enabled scientists to determine that the 41 fragments were more than a million years older than the oldest known DNA from a Siberian mammoth.

The discovery has also given researchers more information about the adaptability of species.

Two million years ago, Greenland had temperatures 11 to 17 degrees warmer than today, but at its latitude, the sun doesn't set in summer or rise in winter.

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