Oldest DNA ever recovered shows warmer planet

[DesertFox]

Scientists who probed two kilometers (1.2 miles) through a Greenland glacier to recover the oldest plant DNA on record said Thursday the planet was far warmer hundreds of thousands of years ago than is generally believed.

DNA of trees, plants and insects including butterflies and spiders from beneath the southern Greenland glacier was estimated to date to 450,000 to 900,000 years ago, according to the remnants retrieved from this long-vanished boreal forest.

That contrasts sharply with the prevailing view that a lush forest of this kind could only have existed in Greenland as recently as 2.4 million years ago, according to a summary of the study, which is published Thursday in the journal Science.

The samples suggest the temperature probably reached 10 degrees C (50 degrees Fahrenheit) in the summer and -17 C (1 F) in the winter.


More (http://www.breitbart.com/print.php?id=070705191403.gahmdtoi&show_article=1)

[DesertFox]

the oldest plant DNA on recordPlants masturbate? :question:

[Timberwolf]

1.2 miles is 6336 feet...the "Lost Squadon" had to set down there in 1942 and was found (in 1981) under 256 feet of ice. That's an average accumulation of 6.5641 feet/year. At that rate, 1.2 milles of ice could accumulate in 965 years.

[DesertFox]

Crazy cold way down there.

[Suzie]

Finally tested Robert Byrd huh?

[PrezLeefun]

You guys are giving me the giggles tonight. Cool article....or should I say warm?

[Aussie]

1.2 miles is 6336 feet...the "Lost Squadon" had to set down there in 1942 and was found (in 1981) under 256 feet of ice. That's an average accumulation of 6.5641 feet/year. At that rate, 1.2 milles of ice could accumulate in 965 years.That's a nice factoid that doesn't challenge the scientists' claim of hundreds of thousands of years because ice layers are not counted by how thick they are. It doesn't matter how long it could take for the ice to accumulate, because that's not how people count the age of ice layers.

Also, ice and snow are deposited at different rates in the Antarctic than the Arctic.

[DesertFox]

Izzat a picture of you, Aussie?

[DesertFox]

450,000 to 900,000 years agoAh, yes. I remember it well.

[Timberwolf]

That's a nice factoid that doesn't challenge the scientists' claim of hundreds of thousands of years because ice layers are not counted by how thick they are. It doesn't matter how long it could take for the ice to accumulate, because that's not how people count the age of ice layers.

Also, ice and snow are deposited at different rates in the Antarctic than the Arctic.
Read my post again...this time actually pay attention to WHAT I wrote.

[Aussie]

Izzat a picture of you, Aussie?It's Audrey Tautou, a French actress.

[DesertFox]

She cute. Too bad she French. :D