Researchers Finally Solve Mystery of 'Alien' Skeleton (cnn.com) 49
When the mummified remains of a six-inch humanoid were found in an abandoned mining town in Chile's Atacama desert 15 years ago, speculation on its origins ran wild. The skeleton, it is being reported, was so bizarre it appeared in a documentary as potential evidence for alien life. But now scientists in California have extracted DNA from the mummy's bones and pieced together the real and tragic story of the individual, known as Ata. Rather than a visitor from another world, Ata was a girl who appears to have been stillborn, or to have died immediately after birth, with devastating mutations that shaped her extraordinary body. From a report: Now, the authors of a study based on five years of genomic analysis want to set the record straight: Ata is human, albeit one with multiple bone disease-associated mutations. And they believe that their findings, published Thursday in the journal Genome Research, could help diagnose genetic mutation-based cases for living patients. In 2003, Ata was found in a deserted mining town called La Noria, in Chile's Atacama region. It was thought to be ancient at first, but initial analysis conducted in 2012 proved that the skeleton was only about 40 years old. This meant DNA would still be intact and could be retrieved for study.
No surprise (Score:2, Insightful)
so bizarre it appeared in a documentary as potential evidence for alien life
That wasn't a documentary of anything.
Hmm so the simplest answer is usually the truth (Score:5, Insightful)
So I guess this falls under Occam's razor, the simplest explanation is most likely the truth. Still as the study noted that's a lot of mutations, and references to a toxic mine.
Re:Hmm so the simplest answer is usually the truth (Score:4, Funny)
It would be one of these [motherjones.com].
Wrong quotes (Score:3)
Headline should read "Solve" the mystery of the alien bones, since obviously it's just a coverup.
Re: (Score:2)
That's really not called for. You can disagree with someone's political beliefs without calling them names.
SuperKendall is actually a pretty decent guy outside of his obviously wrong political views. I know a couple of liberals that I'd trade for him if I was making a run for the playoffs and needed to put another right-handed bat in the lineup.
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Sure, but I'll feel better this way :-)
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LOL!
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Because good looking people don't leave bones behind...?
This was an X-Files episode (Score:2)
Good. (Score:3)
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I've said it before and I'll say it again, I like a world without mysteries. This encourages people to rely on and believe science and reason instead of magic and mysticism. That can't help but be a good thing.
But science is all about mysteries! The whole reason science exists is to demystify the world; to discover and explain how it works. I think you mean that you like it when mysteries are solved. Indeed! But a world without mysteries would be a boring place, in my opinion.
Reminds me of the old slashdot sci-fi contest (Score:2)
Slashdot had a contest recently, to write a sci-fi short in seven words or less. The winner happened to be ,well, spoiler alert.
Died shortly after birth (Score:1)