Category Archives: Transhuman News

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question youd like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Would it really be possible to get the DNA of dinosaurs and then recreate them? Lucie R., age 5, Atlanta, Georgia

As a paleontologist thats a scientist who studies ancient life Im asked this question all the time. After all, the scientists in Jurassic Park (and later, Jurassic World) used DNA to recreate dozens of dinosaurs: Triceratops, Velociraptor and T. rex.

And if you saw any of those movies, you had to wonder: Could real scientists do that today?

DNA which stands for deoxyribonucleic acid is something in every cell of every organism that ever lived on Earth including dinosaurs.

Think of DNA as molecules that carry the genetic code, a set of instructions that helps bodies and minds grow and thrive.

Your DNA is different from everyone elses. It determines many of the characteristics that define you, like the color of your eyes or whether your hair is straight or curly.

DNA is much easier to find in the soft parts of an animal their organs, blood vessels, nerves, muscle and fat.

But a dinosaurs soft parts are long gone. They either decomposed or were eaten by another dinosaur.

Dinosaur fossils are all thats left of those prehistoric animals.

Immersed for tens of millions of years in ancient mud, minerals and water, the fossils come from the dinosaurs so-called hard parts its bones, teeth and skull.

We find dinosaur fossils in the ground, in riverbeds and lakes, and on the sides of cliffs and mountains. Every now and then, someone finds one in their backyard.

Often, theyre quite near the surface, and usually, theyre embedded in sedimentary rock.

With enough fossils, scientists can build a dinosaur skeleton what you see when you go to the museum.

But scientists have a big problem when trying to find DNA in dinosaur fossils.

DNA molecules eventually decay. Recent studies show DNA deteriorates and ultimately disintegrates after about 7 million years.

That sounds like a long time, but the last dinosaur died at the end of the Cretaceous Period. Thats more than 65 million years ago.

Dig up a fossil today, and any dino-DNA within would have long since fallen apart.

That means, as far as scientists know, and even using the best technology available today, its not possible to make a dinosaur from its DNA.

Although its too late to find dino-DNA, scientists recently found something almost as intriguing.

They discovered DNA fragments in the fossils of Neanderthals and other ancient mammals, such as woolly mammoths.

Now that makes sense; those fragments are less than 2 million years old, well before all of the DNA would decay.

Just for fun, lets imagine that somehow, sometime in the future, researchers came up with fragments of dinosaur DNA.

With only fragments, scientists still could not make a complete dinosaur.

Instead, they would have to combine the fragments with the DNA of a modern-day animal to create a living organism.

That creature, however, could not be called an actual dinosaur. Rather, it would be a hybrid, a blend of dinosaur and, most likely, a bird or reptile.

Think thats a good idea? After all, the scientists in the Jurassic movies tried that. And you know what happened there.

Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question youd like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

And since curiosity has no age limit adults, let us know what youre wondering, too. We wont be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

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Is it possible to recreate dinosaurs from their DNA? - The Conversation US

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Human remains found in the Arizona desert in 2016 have been identified through a DNA investigation, according to the Mohave County (Arizona) Sheriffs Office.

The body was identified as 18-year-old Kimberly Rena Jones in July of 2021, nearly five years after her death.

Now the sheriffs office is encouraging anyone with information about Jones to contact the Special Investigations Unit at 928-753-0753 ext. 4408 or call toll free at 1-800-522-4312.

The investigation is ongoing.

The remains were found on Sept. 28, 2016, in a ravine in the White Hills area east of Highway 93, between Kingman and Las Vegas.

The 5-year-old cold case initially got no response from the public when a composite sketch of the victim was released. A missing persons report in San Bernardino, California, was not filed until sometime in 2017, according to investigators. Mohave County was not notified of Jones disappearance.

The investigation was assigned to the Mohave County Sheriffs Office Special Investigations Unit in February of last year.

We would like extend our sincerest gratitude to the community that came together to pay for and attend her funeral services in Kingman in January of 2020, according to a statement from the sheriffs office.

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Arizona authorities seek information after body IDd through DNA investigation - KLAS - 8 News Now

Researchers have known from several lines of evidence that the ancient hominins known as the Denisovans interbred with modern humans in the distant past. Now researchers reporting in the journalCurrent Biology on August 12, 2021, have discovered that the Philippine Negrito ethnic group known as the Ayta Magbukon have the highest level of Denisovan ancestry in the world. In fact, they carry considerably more Denisovan DNA than the Papuan Highlanders, who were previously known as the present-day population with the highest level of Denisovan ancestry.

We made this observation despite the fact that Philippine Negritos were recently admixed with East Asian-related groupswho carry little Denisovan ancestry, and which consequently diluted their levels of Denisovan ancestry, said Maximilian Larena of Uppsala University. If we account for and masked away the East Asian-related ancestry in Philippine Negritos, their Denisovan ancestry can be up to 46 percent greater than that of Australians and Papuans.

In the new study, Larena and colleagues, including Mattias Jakobsson, aimed to establish the demographic history of the Philippines. Through a partnership between Uppsala University of Sweden and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts of the Philippines (NCCA), aided by collaboration with indigenous cultural communities, local universities, local government units, non-governmental organizations, and/or regional offices of the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples, they analyzed about 2.3 million genotypes from 118 ethnic groups of the Philippines including diverse self-identified Negrito populations. The sample also included high-coverage genomes of AustraloPapuans and Ayta Magbukon Negritos.

The study shows that Ayta Magbukon possess the highest level of Denisovan ancestry in the world, consistent with an independent admixture event into Negritos from Denisovans. Together with the recent discovery of a small-bodied hominin, calledHomo luzonensis, the data suggest that there were multiple archaic species that inhabited the Philippines prior to the arrival of modern humans, and that these archaic groups may have been genetically related.

Altogether, the researchers say that the findings unveil a complex intertwined history of modern and archaic humans in the Asia-Pacific region, where distinct Islander Denisovan populations differentially admixed with incoming Australasians across multiple locations and at various points in time.

This admixture led to variable levels of Denisovan ancestry in the genomes of Philippine Negritos and Papuans, Jakobsson said. In Island Southeast Asia, Philippine Negritos later admixed with East Asian migrants who possess little Denisovan ancestry, which subsequently diluted their archaic ancestry. Some groups, though, such as the Ayta Magbukon, minimally admixed with the more recent incoming migrants. For this reason, the Ayta Magbukon retained most of their inherited archaic tracts and were left with the highest level of Denisovan ancestry in the world.

By sequencing more genomes in the future, we will have better resolution in addressing multiple questions, including how the inherited archaic tracts influenced our biology and how it contributed to our adaptation as a species, Larena said.

Reference: Philippine Ayta possess the highest level of Denisovan ancestry in the world by Maximilian Larena, James McKenna, Federico Sanchez-Quinto, Carolina Bernhardsson, Carlo Ebeo, Rebecca Reyes, Ophelia Casel, Jin-Yuan Huang, Kim Pullupul Hagada, Dennis Guilay, Jennelyn Reyes, Fatima Pir Allian, Virgilio Mori, Lahaina Sue Azarcon, Alma Manera, Celito Terando, Lucio Jamero Jr., Gauden Sireg, Renefe Manginsay-Tremedal, Maria Shiela Labos, Richard Dian Vilar, Acram Latiph, Rodelio Linsahay Saway, Erwin Marte, Pablito Magbanua, Amor Morales, Ismael Java, Rudy Reveche, Becky Barrios, Erlinda Burton, Jesus Christopher Salon, Ma. Junaliah Tuazon Kels, Adrian Albano, Rose Beatrix Cruz-Angeles, Edison Molanida, Lena Granehll, Mrio Vicente, Hanna Edlund, Jun-Hun Loo, Jean Trejaut, Simon Y.W. Ho, Lawrence Reid, Kurt Lambeck, Helena Malmstrm, Carina Schlebusch, Phillip Endicott and Mattias Jakobsson, 12 August 2021, Current Biology.DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.07.022

This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council and the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

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Philippine Negrito People Have the Highest Level of Ancient Denisovan DNA in the World - SciTechDaily

By Damien Tampling, Xeros Chief Strategy Officer

Few cross-organisational projects in human history have been as successful as the Human Genome Project. Many years, hundreds of scientists and researchers across 20+ global institutions devoted their time, effort, funding and ingenuity to create the first-ever complete map of human DNA. It was a feat not just of science, but of human collaboration and what is possible when organisations collaborate on a goal bigger than what they can achieve alone.

The same could be said of whats happening in platforms today. The totality of business data is a little like the double-helix structure of DNA: each strand of information in the accounting ledger, CRM, inventory database or marketing funnel is a nucleotide (the base elements of DNA) that tells an isolated story. Tied together, through an API or another means, each piece of data enriches another, telling a fuller story than the sum of its parts.

The best software platforms today are those that treat both their own and their ecosystems data as crucial to the overall story. They are bringing together partners across apps from various niches to create a tapestry of information that is far richer and more cohesive. In effect, they are building their own Genome Project for businesses.

Access to that tapestry of information is seemingly one reason Salesforce acquired Slack last month. Its plan to integrate a powerful collaboration platform like Slack into its Customer 360 platform along with data from thousands of other third-party apps already available on the Slack platform means each piece of data is richer than it was before, and its customers can do more with their data as a whole piece.

Yet that opportunity doesnt just have to come through acquisition partnerships are just as crucial, done well, also bringing together complementary and critical workflows that give customers a more holistic picture or greater insight.

The Xero ecosystem couldnt be a better example today more than 70,000 users connect to the Xero API and more than 1000 certified apps are integrated that read and write to the single accounting ledger, adding more colour around how businesses deal with their customers, inventory, manage their compliance and payments.

Creating those connections doesnt just reduce the time it takes to share information; our own data has shown that connecting Xero with third-party apps has made for more resilient, healthier and faster-growing businesses, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

If those involved in the Human Genome Project had failed to agree on their end goal, where they wanted to focus their efforts on filling gaps and challenging themselves to seize opportunities with partners vs alone, its unlikely we would have a blueprint that is critical to so much medical research and therapeutic development today.

Thats why the most successful partnerships are built on a common goal first the why before looking at the how of connecting data sources or creating contracts. Agreeing on a shared sense of purpose first ensures any conflict that arises in future is less likely to jeopardise the partnership itself.

Stripes recent partnership with Shopify to create Shopify Balance has powerful potential because of that alignment. By agreeing on the end goal and working tightly together, these two companies have enabled potentially billions of dollars in additional economic value by helping small businesses more easily access capital, using the combination of complementary data. Neither of these major platforms would likely have accomplished this by themselves.

With our acquisition of Waddle, and other investments we are making, we are able to do the same with financial and fintech partners around the world; helping them provide smarter, more timely lending options to small businesses to manage their cash flow and support their growth.

That doesnt just happen on Xero that lending capability enables other platforms to leverage accounting data to offer better, more competitive products to customers in need.

Thats why whenever we begin talking to a potential partner about working deeply together, we ensure were aligned on why anchored in understanding each others vision and a common passion for solving a customers most important problems. For us, the why is simple: just one in five small businesses today use the cloud to manage their finances, with even fewer tapping into the potential of connecting apps together to help run their business.

By bringing the single accounting ledger into the cloud so its accessible anywhere, and integrating additional data through a suite of apps like those available on the Xero App Store, small businesses can access real-time business insights. Those insights lead to businesses that are more profitable and ultimately grow faster, providing the potential to radically transform global economies through greater small business productivity and growth.

This kind of live view of your business and the tools that sit around it were previously only available to big business and typically expensive software by democratising access to these tools and the data on which small businesses sit, we give that access to the worlds largest class of business: small business.

As my friend and the late Clayton Christensen did a good job explaining in his research and many acclaimed books, disruption tends to be linked to making something more affordable or more accessible to a segment. In my mind, the fundamentals of the journey we are on supporting small businesses around the world to grow and thrive is much bigger than you might think at first glance.

Finding partners that are aligned with this opportunity and the impact it can have on communities around the world, and enabling this potential together, is the first step in a long, prosperous and healthy partnership. Agreeing on that why upfront is critical and ensures partners can collaborate on a unified purpose; like delivering a view of the whole DNA sequence of the human genome, for the benefit of their shared customer.

The Human Genome Project was only possible because of deep collaboration between disparate parties, unified by a common goal to transform the way we look at what makes us human. Truly empowering small businesses to innovate faster, make better decisions, realise their full potential but also find better life-balance, is no different it will continue to require the same level of collaboration and symbiotic relationships. Never more so than in a world moving faster than many can keep up with.

Todays platforms, and the partners they work with, have the opportunity to create a symbiotic ecosystem for businesses and enable greater economic value for decades to come.

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Sponsored post: The future of platforms lies in the DNA of the digital world - TechCrunch

By TOM LATEK, Kentucky Today

DRY RIDGE, Ky. (KT) The Kentucky State Police are using the DNA Doe Project, an initiative that uses genetic genealogy to identify John and Jane Does, to identify the victim and solve a 30-year-old cold case in northern Kentucky.

The KSP and the DNA Doe Project are currently working on a case from 1989, in which human remains of a large male were found in a tobacco barn off KY State Highway 22 about 7.5 miles west of Dry Ridge near Williamstown, Ky. The victim was shot twice in the back of his head with a .22 caliber weapon, and he was stripped of his clothing. In addition, his hands were severed from his arms.

Forensic scientists have determined the victim to be a white male from 25 to 35 years of age, 65 tall and weighing approximately 220 pounds. He wore his medium brown hair in a crew cut with short sideburns. They say the victim died approximately two weeks prior to being found.

The KSP says volunteer investigative genetic genealogists with the DNA Doe Project have so far determined that the man likely has roots in Eastern Europe. He may also have ancestry from the Middle East and England. So far, the DNA matches are at the distant cousin level.

If you have any information about this case, please contact KSP Post 6, Dry Ridge, at 859-428-1212 or call anonymously at 1-800-222-5555. You can also go to http://www.dnadoeproject.orgto learn more about the DNA Doe Project.

This is not the first time Kentucky State Police have made use of the DNA Doe Project to solve a cold case. Recently, this technology was used to solve a 2001 cold case in Bowling Green to identify the remains of 45-year-old Dawn Clare Plonsky Wilkerson of Nashville.

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DNA project being used on northern Kentucky cold case from 1989 - myq104.com

We are 18 days away from YOUR Missouri Football Tigers kicking off the 2021 season against Central Michigan. Do you feel that? No, not the indigestion. Next to that. Yes! That! Its excitement!

Because I am absolutely insane and keep track of fairly useless amounts of data about Missouris roster, I figured now would be a good time to let you all take a look and the makeup of this 2021 team. Theres lots of excitement about what the on-the-field product can be, yes, but arent you more excited about where they come from, the massive class imbalance, and the blue-chip ratios? I know I am!

Lets start with the roster breakdown. Heres the overview:

Let me break it down into the four subcategories here:

Per 247s Bud Elliott, the blue-chip ratio tracks how well an individual team recruits over a four-year period. Teams who are able to consistently reel in recruiting classes of 4- and 5-star kids are able to field a team with enough athleticism to compete for national championships. It doesnt mean the team is any good, mind you (think TEXAS), it just simply means their ceiling is high enough that they could hold their own against elite teams. The cutoff point is 50%, meaning 41 of a teams 82 scholarship players are 4/5 star guys coming out of high school.

At this time last year the Tigers blue-chip ratio was 5% which, as my University of Missouri education has helped me realize, is much less than 50%. However, heading into the 2021 season, Mizzous blue-chip ratio has more than doubled, currently sitting at 11%. Naturally that means that next year it will be 24% and then hit 53% in 2023 because recruiting improvement is always the same!

...but seriously, Drinkwitz and his staff have been aces on the recruiting trail and should definitely help elevate Mizzous recruiting prestige to at least the 30% level for the coming years.

Look at this. Look at this f***ing mess of class balance:

The first number is scholarship players, the number in parenthesis is when you add walk-ons.

This is the visual representation of the thing BK and I have been complaining about in multiple podcasts: the NCAA allowed EVERYONE to not have their 2020 season count on the eligibility clock has created an absolute logjam at the underclassman level. Compare this balance to the roster heading into the 2020 season:

This is why the Tigers can only take 15 commitments on Early Signing Day because theres only for sure 9 guys leaving a roster with 74 guys on scholarship. 74-9=65, 65+15=80, and you want to keep a few scholarships available for Luther Burden and Kevin Coleman the elite, February-Singing-Day dudes and the off-season transfer portal market.

Outside of running back, offensive lineman, defensive tackle, and specialists, the Tigers have at least one 4-star guy at every position. And, if current recruiting efforts hold, then the Tigers should have at least one 4-star guy at EVERY position - excluding tight end and specialists - on next years roster. Thats a good start for the SEC, and it is a good idea to get multiple 4-stars at every position going forward. That would increase the blue-chip ratio and continue to protect Mizzou from any busts that could potentially happen.

I dont want to sound like Im totally discounting the 2- and 3-star guys, by the way: Im a lifelong Missouri fan and I know what our wheelhouse is. Im just simply stating its better for 2/3-star kids to get developed over time and play above their high school rating while also recruiting a good crop of elite athleticism that can hit the field and be awesome from Game 1.

24 different states in the union and another whole-ass country/continent have contributed players to the 2021 cause. The state of Missouri, to no ones surprise, leads the way in total players on the roster, both scholarship only (17) and with walk-ons added (38). Texas is second (14/19) followed by Floridas 7 scholarship players and Georgia (5/7). Its a pretty heavy SEC footprint which is a good thing: the most talented high school football players hail from the American south - specifically Texas, Georgia, and Florida - and Mizzou has typically found success by recruiting overlooked players in talent-stocked areas to supplement the best athletes from Missouri they can sign. The Indiana pipeline has been busy as of late with the signing of Ky Montgomery and Daylan Carnell while the Michigan pipeline got a little smaller with the early drafting of Larry Borom and transfer of Aidan Harrison. Itll be interesting to see if Drinkwitzs staff does anything to further develop the Colorado pipeline (one scholarship player) or the Chicago pipeline (zero scholarship players) or if they decide that the Carolina pipeline is more valuable (two scholarship players, one on the way, plus Larry Threesticks was a Carolina kid).

Heres a visual representation of the areas that Missouri has drawn talent from to craft the 2021 roster:

This map does count walk-ons but you can see the big pockets that Missouri pulls from - St. Louis, Kansas City, DFW, Houston, central Florida. And, of course, 9,429 miles to the west is the recruiting hotbed of Melbourne, Australia (hi, Ben Key!).

Mostly just to act as a depository for my weird data hoarding, frankly. But also to give you a better idea of where the roster currently stands and provide a benchmark in order to watch as to how it evolves over time. I last did this exercise in June of 2020 and its already changed a ton: how the recruiting efforts and roster management work out over the years and the impact on what the team looks like in that timespan will be very interesting to track.

The next question to answer - and one we wont realistically get a chance at answering until Game Week - is which players see the field. Missouris most elite teams relied heavily on contributions from experienced upperclassman and young, high-level impact athletes. Missouris last recruiting class was the best ever but the four that came before that were middle of the pack nationally and near the bottom in the SEC. Playing a lot of upperclassmen helps from an experience and development standpoint while possibly limiting a teams ceiling while playing a bunch of young guys probably equates to more immediate losses in hope for the potential of more wins down the road. Rest assured, Ill analyze the hell out of the roster once we get more information.

Original post:
The DNA of the 2021 Missouri Football Tigers - Rock M Nation

After fires ripped through Washington States Olympic National Forest in 2018, firefighters found evidence of a tree heist gone wrong sawed-off stumps of protected bigleaf maple trees.

They turned to tree DNA a new area of forensic evidence to connect the stumps with the missing tree and caught the poachers red-handed.

The backstory: In the United States, tree poaching is surprisingly common. Bigleaf maple and yellow cedar are highly sought after for their beautiful wood, often used in musical instruments, art, and fine furniture. A single tree might be worth thousands of dollars, depending on its size and woodgrain patterning.

A few shredded stumps all that remains of the poached trees are sometimes the only sign that a thief was present.

Prized trees, in mostly unguarded forests, make a tempting target for timber thieves, and it is hard to nab a tree poacher after the fact. A few shredded stumps all that remains of the poached trees are sometimes the only sign that a thief was present.

Whats more, many tree species can be lawfully harvested, if they are on private land or harvested with a permit. Side-by-side, it is impossible to tell the difference between black-market timber and a log that was legally harvested.

Side-by-side, it is impossible to tell the difference between black-market timber and a log that was legally harvested.

But tree DNA can connect a log for sale on the market to a stump in the forest.

What went down: The 2018 Maple Fire destroyed 3,300 acres of Washington states Olympic National Forest. In the remains, local officials found a group of suspicious burning maple tree stumps. Someone had clearly used a saw to chop them down before the fire.

The law enforcement agents got to work. They collected genetic samples from dozens of logs, hoping the tree DNA could be used to match timber to the tree stumps. They sent the samples to Richard Cronn, a research geneticist with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS).

He used genetic analysis to match the Olympic Forest DNA to lumber sold to a local mill by defendant Justin Andrew Wilke. Wilke claimed he had harvested the three bigleaf maple trees legally, from private land. But genetic evidence connected the wood to the stumps.

The DNA analysis was so precise that it found the probability of the match being coincidental was approximately one in one undecillion (one followed by 36 zeros), prosecutors said.

This whole story is 100% a testament to the detailed investigating skills of our Forest Service law enforcement agents, Cronn says, explaining that collecting wood samples from the right lumber was like finding a needle in a haystack. They showed the determination to try to get an answer. They really invested a lot of time and took detailed notes.

According to a statement from the U.S. Attorneys Office for Western Washington, Cronn testified that the wood Wilke sold was a genetic match to the remnants of three poached maple trees investigators recovered in the Elk Lake region convincing the jury that Wilkes timber had been stolen.

The DNA analysis was so precise that it found the probability of the match being coincidental was approximately one in one undecillion (one followed by 36 zeros), prosecutors said.

The case marks the first time in federal criminal proceedings that tree DNA has been used to convict a tree poacher, the Associated Press reports.

The mind of a poacher: Wilke and his fellow conspirators had an elaborate and calculated system for poaching desirable trees, according to court documents. It involved sneaking into the forest, peeling the bark aside to assess the wood, and forging documents to convince sawmills it was legal, The Washington Post reports.

But what they didnt anticipate was a bee nest near the base of the tree. This is where the story gets muddled and cant be confirmed with evidence. Wilke says he didnt start the Maple Fire, which cost the state about $4.2 million to put out. But prosecutors say Wilke doused the bee nest with gasoline and set it alight. Ultimately, the jury did not convict Wilke of starting the fire.

When people steal trees from our public lands, they are stealing a beautiful and irreplaceable resource from all of us and from future generations, Tessa M. Gorman, acting U.S. Attorney, said. That theft, coupled with the sheer destruction of the forest fire that resulted from this activity, warrants federal criminal prosecution.

Future genetics: While genetic analysis opens up more opportunities to connect a log on the market with a damaged stump, law enforcement still needs to find both the stump and the timber. If a tree was poached deep in a national park, finding the stump could be next to impossible poachers are betting on it.

But not long after the Maple Fire investigation began, a group of volunteers for Adventure Scientists started helping to build a tree DNA database of desirable targets for poachers, which I previously reported. They sent those samples to Cronn. The idea was that by comparing lumber of unknown origin with a reference database of tree DNA throughout the country, scientists could hone in on where the tree likely came from.

Instead of needing to find a tree stump in the forest and a suspicious log for sale on the market, researchers could use a comparison to the reference database to identify the likely origin of the timber, such as a National Park or National Forest.

Cronn had already finished his analysis for the Wilke case when Adventure Scientists sent him their samples. He had explored the Olympic peninsula, collecting genetic samples and building a mini-database of his own. But, because Adventure Scientists drew from the collective effort of many volunteer citizen scientists, their database was much larger in scope. It spanned the entire bigleave maple range. So, Cronn checked his work again with the new database. Using the Adventure Scientists data, he crunched the numbers, and came up with the same conclusions.

It basically confirmed everything that we said, for this particular case. And what it ended up showing us was really how useful this particular DNA fingerprinting test would be across the range of bigleaf maple, he said.

Cronn calls it an on the shelf product something that researchers can use in future cases when the origin of a piece of timber is called into question.

Wed love to hear from you! If you have a comment about this article or if you have a tip for a future Freethink story, please email us at tips@freethink.com.

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Tree DNA convicts a poacher for the first time in federal court - Freethink

India is home to a large population of elephants and to have a clear idea about the exact number, the country will be conducting a census next year. However, unlike the last time when the population was calculated on the basis of headcount, this census will involve a more scientific approach, reported the Hindustan Times. The census beginning next year will involve camera trapping, DNA analysis of dung samples and statistical modelling of the tuskers. The methodology will be the same as the quadrennial tiger census.

Speaking about the new methodology to be used in the elephant census, SP Yadav, member secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority and head of Central Zoo Authority, said that the old method was not scientific. The team conducting the census will first do a ground survey to record indirect elephant signs like broken branches, footprints, dung etc.

Camera trapping and DNA analysis of dung will also be used to collect data. Then, the data will be extrapolated to give a range of elephants in each region. Yadav said that the uses of this method will definitely help authorities to also improve understanding about elephants and the issues face by them

The last elephant census conducted on a headcount basis in 2017 had concluded that there were at least 27,000 tuskers present in different parts of India. The census also revealed the distribution range of the elephant population had expanded even to states that never had any recorded presence of the tusker. For the time, elephant presence was recorded in states like Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Andaman And Nicobar, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Asian Elephants have been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of threatened species. Indian is home to more than 60 per cent of its population of about 50,000 to 60,000. The population outside India has shown a sharp decline due to loss of habitation and poaching in recent years.

Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here

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New Elephant Census to have DNA Analysis, Camera Trapping of the Tuskers - News18

Preview: 'Forensic Files II' episode on Traci Hammerberg case

The HLN true-crime series explores the 1984 murder of a young Wisconsin woman that was finally solved 35 years later using DNA evidence.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

For the second time in less than a year, the 1984 murder of Saukville teenager Traci Hammerberg, which investigators solved 35 years later using DNA evidence, is gettingits TV closeup.

"Forensic Files II," the rebooted continuation of the long-running crime investigation series, takes a look at the case in an episode called "Grave Justice," airing at 9 p.m. Central Time on Aug. 22 on HLN (Channel 11 on Spectrum cable).

The half-hour episode recaps the basics of the initial case. Hammerberg'sbody was found on a driveway in the Town of Grafton early on Dec. 15, 1984; after a night out with friends, she had been raped, strangled and bludgeoned to death.

Suspects emerged, but without conclusive evidence, the case remained open for more than three decades. Finally, investigators sent DNA evidence from the crime scene to a genetic genealogy database and managed to identify a prime suspect: Philip Cross, an acquaintance of Hammerberg who died of a drug overdose in 2012. A DNA card for Cross proved he was a match.

RELATED: How genetic genealogy helped solve the 1984 murder of 18-year-old Traci Hammerberg

The "Forensic Files" episode focuses on how investigators followed the DNA evidence to find Hammerberg's killer.

Last fall, the Hammerberg case was the focus of an episode of true-crime maven Nancy Grace's latest series, "Bloodline Detectives." That series airs in syndication, locally on WVTVDT2 (Channel 24) at 1 a.m. late Sunday nights.

Contact Chris Foran at chris.foran@jrn.com. Followhimon Twitter at @cforan12.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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HLN's 'Forensic Files II' takes on 1984 Wisconsin murder case that was solved 35 years later using DNA evidence - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel