Mr. Ippolito
12/9/20
Current Event 13
Bates, Sofie. “DNA from 5,700-Year-Old 'Gum' Shows What One Ancient Woman May Have Looked Like.” Science News, 17 Dec. 2019, www.sciencenews.org/article/dna-5700-year-old-gum-may-reveal-ancient-woman-appearance
Researchers say that chewed gum could be an overlooked source of ancient genetic material. On December 17, researchers reported in Nature Communications that chewing gum "can hold enough DNA to piece together the genetic instruction books, or genomes, of long-dead people" (Bates). After looking at a 5,700-year-old piece of gum from Denmark, researchers were able to determine the genome of an ancient woman, determining that she most likely had blue eyes, dark skin, and dark hair. The "gum" they chewed, the reported, was birch pitch, or heated birch bark. By repeatedly chewing this gum, mouth cells were worked deep into the substance. The birch bark, researchers discovered, is relatively resistant to bacteria, viruses, and water, which was what preserved the gum and protected the DNA from decay for that long. In addition, the researchers discovered DNA from microbes that had previously lived in the woman's mouth. The microbes included older versions of the Epstein-Barr virus and bacteria that have caused pneumonia. Remnants from a meal the woman ate before chewing the pitch were identified, as researchers traced the DNA of duck and hazelnut in the gum. This discovery was "kind of like a snapshot of one moment in time" says Hannes Schroeder, a geneticist at the University of Copenhagen, as information about ancient microbes has been previously found from dental plaque of fossilized teeth (Bates).
This discovery is immense in its relevance to archaeology and ancient humans. Understanding how our ancestors lived provides insight into what life was like at that time. Learning about the diet of our distant ancestors can help modern humans formulate better eating habits and control weight and reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, asthma, and other disorders. In addition, it has always been a competition to find out what prehistoric humans looked like for the purposes of science and research.
This article did a great job explaining the findings of the discovery such as microbes and disease. In addition, the use of quotes in the article successfully built upon the results of the study by providing outside insight on the topic. However, I wish the article had elaborated on the significance of the discovery as it related to current science. In addition, the article lacked a lot of the explanation behind how they determined the woman's diet and physical features; I am still confused on this aspect.
Amanda Troy
ReplyDelete1/13/20
AP Biology
Current Event 13
Bates, Sofie. “DNA from 5,700-Year-Old 'Gum' Shows What One Ancient Woman May Have
Looked Like.” Science News, 17 Dec. 2019,
www.sciencenews.org/article/dna-5700-year-old-gum-may-reveal-ancient-woman-appearance
https://bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2020/01/dna-from-5700-year-old-gum-shows-what.html
For this current event, I commented on Rory’s review of the article, “DNA from 5,700-Year-Old 'Gum' Shows What One Ancient Woman May Have Looked Like.” First, Rory describes the study being discussed in the article. The study is about chewing gum’s ability to hold DNA to piece together the genomes of long-dead people. Next, Rory goes into more detail of the experiment that took place. Scientists were able to discover the genome of an ancient woman and determined some of her physical characteristics along with remnants of a meal she ate, and older versions of the Epstein-Barr Virus. Lastly, Rory discusses the discovery’s great relevance to archaeology and ancient humans as discovering how our ancestors lived provide insight into what life was like for them so long ago.
This review is extremely well-written, however, Rory can improve upon a couple of things. For one, while Rory did incorporate about two important quotes from the article, she could have included a couple more. I thought that the quotes she did use were very interesting, so including more would have made her review even more intriguing. Additionally, I wish Rory elaborated more upon the DNA from microbes which revealed traces of the Epstein-Barr Virus and bacteria. I thought this was an extremely fascinating discovery and could have been further discussed.
I found this review to be very fascinating and relevant. I love reading articles about discoveries that reveal ancient information, especially when it can be relevant in today’s world. In this article, our history and our modern society make a distinct connection and it is fascinating and important when discoveries of the past can help the ways of the present.
Rory’s review of “DNA from 5,700-Year-Old 'Gum' Shows What One Ancient Woman May Have Looked Like” by Sofie Bates was short, sweet, and informative. In her review, Rory summarized the article, described its significance, and provided her honest opinion of it. She explained that the ancient “gum” had preserved the genetic information of the woman that chewed it, and that scientists were not only able to reconstruct her DNA, they were also able to analyze microbes and locate the DNA of duck and hazelnut in the gm, providing a unique snapshot into the lifestyle of a woman who lived 5,700 years ago.
ReplyDeleteThough Rory’s review was very well written, there is room for
Improvement. For instance, she could have described more in depth what exactly the findings of the study revealed, and if the study uncovered new information that wasn’t known before. In addition, I think it would have been interesting if she had explained how this “gum” fossil was found and why scientists decided to test it for genetic data.
Rory explained the importance of the study. It tells us about what life was like for our ancestors. By studying our ancestors’ genomes and eating habits, we can formulate better eating habits, better control weight, and prevent weight-related disease. Reconstruction of the woman’s bone structure can help fill in gaps in the story of human evolution, as well.
Olivia Conniff
ReplyDelete1/22/20
Mr. Ippolito
AP Biology
Current Event 14
Bates, Sofie. “DNA from 5,700-Year-Old 'Gum' Shows What One Ancient Woman May Have
Looked Like.” Science News, 17 Dec. 2019,
www.sciencenews.org/article/dna-5700-year-old-gum-may-reveal-ancient-woman-appearance
https://bronxvilleapbiology.blogspot.com/2020/01/dna-from-5700-year-old-gum-shows-what.html
For Current Event 14, I chose to read Rory Christian’s review of the article, “DNA from 5,700-Year-Old ‘Gum’ Shows What One Ancient Woman May Have Looked Like” by Sofie Bates. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Rory’s article as it was informative, detailed, and clear. I appreciated how concise, but yet still full of good information it is. Furthermore, I thought the criticism she provided to Bates was very constructive and insightful. Finally, Rory did an excellent job of summarizing the article, describing its significance, and providing her opinion on it as well as Bates’ writing.
While overall Rory’s article was excellent, there are a few minor adjustments that could be made to better it further. I feel that her review became a bit repetitive at times, which can undermine the clarity of the writing. If she used a bit more variety in her explanations, it would improve them greatly. In addition, I think it would have been very interesting if Rory had included a bit more background information on how this “gum” fossil was found and why exactly scientists decided to test it.
Rory’s review was extremely interesting and I was very surprised to learn about the connections between ancient history and modern society. It was extremely interesting to learn about how we can study our ancestors’ genomes and the things we can learn from them. Reading this review taught me that by studying the past there is so much we can learn about the present.