Scientists Recover Rare Proteins From 24-Million-Year-Old Rhino Fossil
Danielle Fraser, the Canadian Museum of Nature's head of paleobiology and one of the research scientists involved in the study, revealed that the proteins are 10 times older than any previously recoverable sample of ancient DNA.
The discovery has opened up new possibilities for studying ancient life and evolution, potentially allowing researchers to analyse proteins from even older fossils, including dinosaur fossils. They can also use the analysis to study the evolutionary relationships between different species.
The proteins in the rhino fossil are intact in the high Arctic's dry, cold environment, and the hardiness of tooth enamel. Otherwise, ancient DNA does not typically survive beyond one million years.
The study, published July 9 in the scientific journal Nature, suggests that proteins can survive for millions of years under the right conditions.
The development would help in future research into ancient proteins and their potential to simplify our understanding of evolution.
"It's very clear that the Arctic is creating a freezer allowing these proteins in these animals to be preserved over much longer time periods than we would expect. This really extends our ability to understand evolution back much farther than we previously thought," said Fraser. "Humans are the last few milliseconds on that clock right before you hit the 12. And that 23 million years is going to be about five minutes ago."
The ancient rhino diverged from other rhinocerotids during the Middle Eocene-Oligocene epoch, around 41-25 million years ago.
The two main subfamilies of rhinos, Elasmotheriinae and Rhinocerotinae, diverged more recently than previously believed, around 34-22 million years ago.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Telescopes spot start of planet formation in Orion
When rocky worlds like the earth began to form, dust in the young Solar System was first heated until it vaporised and then cooled so that the very first, refractory (i.e. heat-loving) minerals could crystallise. Catching that moment in another star system would show astronomers exactly how planet formation begins — but no one had seen it before. A new study in Nature this month has reported just such an event. By examining the star HOPS‑315 in Orion, whose protoplanetary disc is tilted just enough for someone on or near the earth to peer deeper within, researchers from France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Taiwan, and the US observed raw rock vapour cool and crystallise. The protoplanetary disc is a flat, rotating pancake-shaped mass of gas and dust that surrounds a newborn star. Inside it, dust grains bump together, stick, and gradually grow into rocks, planets, moons, and other bodies while the gas creates atmospheres and influences the planets' long-term orbits. The observations themselves were conducted by the NASA James Webb Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/sub‑millimeter Array (ALMA) observatory in Chile. In 2023, the team used the NIRSpec and MIRI integral‑field spectrographs onboard the telescope to collect sharp energy readings across a range of frequencies. Eight months later, ALMA observed the same system for signs of carbon monoxide, silicon monoxide and sulphur monoxide. Together, the telescope traced warm gas and dust only a few stellar radii from the star while ALMA mapped cooler gas farther out. The telescope's data contained evidence of a strong band of silicon monoxide gas at around 470 K as well as crystalline silicates. Both lay within 2.2 AU of the star — well inside Mercury's orbit if this were in the solar system. (1 AU equals the earth-sun distance.) The team also ran computer simulations, which predicted that around 1 AU from the star, temperatures hovered around 1,300 K, which is the temperature at which dust just begins to evaporate. The study's energy readings matched the prediction: that interstellar grains must have vaporised there, releasing silicon monoxide gas that then cooled and re-condensed into fresh shards of crystals. According to the study, the relative quantities of crystals of forsterite, enstatite, and tentative silica were reminiscent of inclusions — i.e. minerals trapped inside minerals — that have been found in primitive meteorites on the earth, meaning that a similar condensation chemistry is under way around the star. The ALMA data also revealed no slow silicon monoxide at the star's position whereas the Webb telescope's data was blueshifted by around 10 km/s. Together, they indicate that the minerals lay inside the rising disc atmosphere, the thin upper layer of gas and dust above the mid‑plane of the protoplanetary disc, rather than in the material pouring out of the star. Thus the study has reported the first evidence of solid matter condensing out of rock vapour around a star, a.k.a. the first step of planet formation.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
2 days ago
- First Post
Have scientists decoded why the universe exists? Cern study points to matter-antimatter asymmetry
The finding offers vital clues to the long-standing mystery of why the universe is composed predominantly of matter, rather than being annihilated by an equal amount of antimatter read more A new study has shed light on one of humankind's fundamental queries: Why does the universe exist? Image courtesy: Nasa A new study at CERN has provided critical insights into one of the most fundamental questions in physics: why does anything exist at all? Researchers working on the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment have observed a rare form of symmetry violation in the decays of beauty baryons– particles containing a bottom quark. The finding offers vital clues to the long-standing mystery of why the universe is composed predominantly of matter, rather than being annihilated by an equal amount of antimatter. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The study, published in Nature, reports the observation of charge–parity (CP) violation in a baryonic decay process, marking a significant development in the quest to understand the imbalance between matter and antimatter in the early universe. What did the scientists observe? The experiment focused on a specific decay of the beauty baryon, into a proton, a kaon (K−), and two pions (π+ and π−). This decay can occur via two different quark-level pathways: one involving a bottom-to-up (b → u) transition and another involving a bottom-to-strange (b → s) transition. Crucially, the researchers found that these two processes do not behave symmetrically when matter is swapped for antimatter. This violation of CP symmetry is a direct indication that the laws of physics are not entirely the same for matter and antimatter– a foundational requirement for explaining why the universe didn't simply self-destruct in a flash of mutual annihilation shortly after the Big Bang. Why is CP violation so important? CP violation had previously been observed in the decays of mesons– particles made of a quark and an antiquark. However, baryons (made of three quarks) are less explored in this context. The new findings from the LHCb collaboration represent the first clear evidence of CP violation in baryon decays, expanding the frontier of known symmetry-breaking phenomena. This asymmetry is a necessary component in explaining the observed dominance of matter in the universe. Without it, the Standard Model predicts that equal amounts of matter and antimatter would have been produced in the early universe– leading to their mutual destruction.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
2 days ago
- First Post
Google turns Android phones into earthquake detectors, records 11,000 tremors on crowdsourcing
The Android Earthquake Alerts system prioritises scale over precision, leveraging the widespread use of Android smartphones, which collect motion data by default unless opted out read more Follow us on Google News Google utilised motion sensors in over two billion mobile phones from 2021 to 2024 to detect earthquakes and issued automated warnings to millions across 98 countries, revealed a Science journal analysis released last week. The analysis shows that Google's system recorded over 11,000 quakes, matching the performance of traditional seismometers. Independent earthquake researchers commend the system but call for greater transparency into Google's proprietary technology before public officials rely on it. Traditional seismometer-based alert systems exist in places like Mexico, Japan, and the US west coast. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In 2020, Google launched a crowd-sourced system using Android phones to detect early tremors. Data from its first three years, released recently, confirm its effectiveness and improvement. Google notes that annual earthquake deaths average thousands, but its mobile-based alerts have expanded access tenfold since 2019. 'It's very impressive: most countries don't have an earthquake early-warning system, and this can help provide that service,' Allen Husker, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology, was quoted as saying by Nature. However, he seeks more access to Google's data and algorithms. Google's scientists claim they're as transparent as possible, citing privacy constraints on sharing raw phone data. They told Nature that the Science paper aims to clarify the system's operations. 'That really is the origin of this paper,' says Richard Allen, a University of California, Berkeley seismologist and Google visiting faculty. 'I hope the community will recognise that and appreciate that.' How does Google's Earthquake Alerts system work? The Android Earthquake Alerts system prioritises scale over precision, leveraging the widespread use of Android smartphones, which collect motion data by default unless opted out. Google's algorithms analyse signals, accounting for regional geological and construction variations, as well as differences in phone motion sensors. Challenges persist in detecting major earthquakes. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The system underestimated two powerful 2023 Turkey quakes, sending 4.5 million warnings. After algorithm upgrades, re-analysis showed the system could have issued urgent 'TakeAction' alerts to ten million phones. 'This shows they have been working to improve the system since 2023, with tangible positive results,' says Harold Tobin, a University of Washington seismologist.
