Brain parts found in ancient human ancestor

Brain parts found in ancient human ancestor
X-ray scan looks inside 1.9 million-year-old skull
By Jennifer Viegas
Discovery Channel
updated 10:48 a.m. ET, Mon., April 12, 2010

Remains of a 1.9-million-year-old human ancestor are so well preserved that they may contain a remnant of the male individual's brain, according to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, where the remains were recently examined.

While DNA is very fragile and deteriorates over time, the discovery opens up the remote possibility that soft tissue with preserved DNA still exists in the prehistoric hominid, which could hold an important place on the human family tree.

The examination also turned up what seemed to be fossilized insect eggs, according to scientists. They said larvae from the eggs could have fed on the flesh of the human ancestor, Australopithecus sediba, right after his death.

While gazing at the hominid's skull as it was being studied with a powerful electromagnetic radiation X-ray process, project leader Lee Berger said he and his team were seeing "structures we can't even imagine in a way that's quite literally unprecedented in paleontological sciences."

More:www.msnbc.msn.com...

Finally, a man that's showing brain and is not shy about it

Seriously now, great find. If they do find DNA in those remnants, maybe a cloning attempt can bring it back to life? Just a thought, perhaps a bit scary.

Wow, it'll be interesting to see what they do with this, and what exactly it means. "Unknown Structures"? Sounds like this will be quite epic in proportions if it turns out to be something.

reply to post by Pauligirl


Awesome find!

I'm not too interested in the "cloning" aspect that another poster brought up (seductive idea but the longest of longest of long shots right now) but it sends shivers up my spine to think of the kind of discoveries that can be made about the architecture and evolution of the human brain and human consciousness.

I swear if the Illuminati really exist, they need to get ahold of this DNA (if its possible to extract) and start cloning these guys and study them!

Absolutely fascinating!
I do hope they may retreive som DNA, it could give us another clue about our ancestors origins.

Originally posted by Pauligirl

Brain parts found in ancient human ancestor
X-ray scan looks inside 1.9 million-year-old skull
By Jennifer Viegas
Discovery Channel
updated 10:48 a.m. ET, Mon., April 12, 2010

Remains of a 1.9-million-year-old human ancestor are so well preserved that they may contain a remnant of the male individual's brain, according to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, where the remains were recently examined.

While DNA is very fragile and deteriorates over time, the discovery opens up the remote possibility that soft tissue with preserved DNA still exists in the prehistoric hominid, which could hold an important place on the human family tree.

The examination also turned up what seemed to be fossilized insect eggs, according to scientists. They said larvae from the eggs could have fed on the flesh of the human ancestor, Australopithecus sediba, right after his death.

While gazing at the hominid's skull as it was being studied with a powerful electromagnetic radiation X-ray process, project leader Lee Berger said he and his team were seeing "structures we can't even imagine in a way that's quite literally unprecedented in paleontological sciences."

More:www.msnbc.msn.com...

Do you think the will create some sort of android with this stuff?