Is Genetic Dating Accurate?
Tuesday, November 10, 2009 - 13:28
in Biology & Nature
Conventional types of genetic analysis may not be as accurate as believed, according to researchers writing in Trends in Genetics. Their analysis of penguins that died 44,000 years ago in Antarctica have provided extraordinary frozen DNA samples that they say challenges the accuracy of traditional genetic aging measurements, and suggest those approaches have been routinely underestimating the age of many specimens by 200 to 600 percent. So a biological specimen determined by traditional DNA testing to be 100,000 years old may actually be 200,000 to 600,000 years old. They say their findings raise doubts about the accuracy of many evolutionary rates based on conventional types of genetic analysis. read more