Possible 25 Million Year Old Frog Found
dispatch writes "A small frog, found preserved in amber, has been found by researchers in Mexico City. The frog, according to the scientists, may be some 25 million years old! According to the article: 'The chunk of amber containing the 0.4-inch frog was uncovered by a miner in southern Chiapas states in 2005 and was bought by a private collector, who lent it to scientists for study.' Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though the scientists will be allowed to drill into the rock, at the owner's request."
Kudos to the scientist. From the photo I would have called it a grasshopper. Anyways, this is very cool news. If the owner (or future owner) allows scientists to drill in and get a small sample of DNA we'll be able to link it to a modern variety of frog and perhaps other animals; and it will be an amazing lineage of how DNA gets morphed over time to adapt to the environment. I'll need to do some searching to see how the frog's environment differs from 25 million years ago to now.
- I voted for Nintendo and against Bush
"* Stamps feet, puts hands on hips and pouts *"
Patience my friend, if it's anything like today's frogs it will have a gut full of mosquitos we can drill into.
Seriously, if you are interested in amber and bugs (plus a bonus lizard), David Attenbourough's "Amber" doco is a must see.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Isn't this the guy going to jail for tax evasion and who threatened the prosecutors and judges on the jail telephone. He doesn't sound particularly bright and somehow I think he's probably not the guy to look for in regards to "Truth".
He certainly missed that part of the bible about render unto Caesar and do unto others. So I would guess that in all the other fields he claims to offer startling evidence that overthrow the existing theories and mountains of data, he's probably missed the boat too.