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Researchers Solve the Mystery of the Atacama ‘Alien’ Mummy


gingerbread80

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gingerbread80

ata_chilean_skeleton.jpg

 

The skeleton looks vaguely human, but is just six inches long. Found in 2003 in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, it has hardened teeth, 10 ribs instead of 12, big eye sockets and an elongated, pointy skull. Since its discovery, the tiny form has sparked curiosity and speculation—and more than a few stories of aliens.

 

Now, as Carl Zimmer for The New York Times reports, a team of scientists finally know how this tiny mummy came to be. A new study published in Genome Research presents DNA analysis of bone marrow cells from the skeleton. The results suggest that the remains belonged to a child who likely had genetic mutations resulting in a bone disorder that caused the unexpected form.

 

The study began in 2012 when Garry P. Nolan, an immunologist at Stanford University and lead researcher on the project, heard of the U.F.O. documentary, “Sirius,” which featured the tiny form as possible evidence of aliens. At the time, the film was still in production, so Nolan reached out to producers and offered to examine the mummy’s DNA, Zimmer writes.

“This was an unusual specimen with some fairly extraordinary claims put forward. ... it would be an example of how to use modern science to answer the question “what is it?” Nolan says in a press release.


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Very interesting. I remember reading about this a few years ago, but there wasn't any research done back then.

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On 3/24/2018 at 2:58 AM, Jogs said:

I always thought its a fake

 

Well, it's not fake. Just a poor native baby born (stillborn?) with some congenital malformation. Once more serious investigations gave a proof that there were no such thing as "ancestral aliens".

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Katzenfreund

The slow development of events surprises me.

Though it was discovered in 2003, it seems its study only started in 2012.

And the results of the study came out in 2018.

 

Scientific capabilities are advancing, but scientific procedures aren't.

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2 hours ago, Katzenfreund said:

The slow development of events surprises me.

Though it was discovered in 2003, it seems its study only started in 2012.

And the results of the study came out in 2018.

 

Scientific capabilities are advancing, but scientific procedures aren't.

thats probably because the scientists had others to do/study before studying that mummy.

you know the story, not enough people, not enough credit, loads of items that needs to be studied/taken cared of

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