Oldest Intact Red Blood Cells Found on Iceman 104
sciencehabit writes "A team of researchers has zoomed in on two spots on the body of the Iceman, a mummified, 5300-year-old hunter found frozen in the Alps in 1991: a shoulder wound found with an embedded arrowhead and a hand lesion resembling a stab wound. The scientists used atomic force microscopy, a visualization method with resolution of less than a nanometer, to scan the wounds for blood residue. They discovered red blood cells — the oldest in the world to be found intact — as well as fibrin, a protein needed for blood to clot. The presence of fibrin indicates that the Iceman, nicknamed Ötzi, didn't die immediately after being wounded."
Re:Don't get all that excited.... (Score:2, Interesting)
You're not wrong -- you're just not completely right.
Otzi's blood type is old news -- I wrote the story you sourced.
But, since its publication, it's been advanced -- they actually found blood cells, not DNA telling us what kind of blood cells they'd be.
I'm just waiting to interview Dr. Zink and I'll put a relevant story up on the site!
Re:Ötzi no bang Utz's wife again! (Score:5, Interesting)
Yes, it does, really. They researched this. Humans are the only mammal with a glans shaped like ours, and in simulations it proved to be dramatically more effective at removing recently deposited semen than the glansless penii of other primates. [epjournal.net]