
Genetic analysis of tiny mummified skeleton from the Atacama Desert - snake117
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/science/ata-mummy-alien-chile.html
======
sampo
Just noting that the mummy is very recent, perhaps 50 years old. (Not a 50
years old person, but born and mummified about 50 years ago.)

"Ata was stillborn or died immediately after her birth, perhaps 40 years
before her remains were discovered."

[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/mar/22/genetic-
test...](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/mar/22/genetic-tests-reveal-
tragic-reality-of-atacama-alien-skeleton)

~~~
sho_hn
That contradicts this article.

~~~
tedmiston
Not necessarily, on age at least. The article just states:

> After death, DNA disintegrates into fragments, which become smaller over the
> centuries. Ata’s DNA fragments are still large, another clue that she’s less
> than 500 years old.

------
vadimberman
> Ata’s bones contain DNA that not only shows she was human

The fact that there's a DNA already means it's not an alien, doesn't it?
Having a life form with the same uber-complex chain of nucleotides as the life
on earth developed is as improbable as a server on an alien mothership being
compatible with a Macbook. (Quick primer on the subject:
[https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/cracking-aliens-
gen...](https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/cracking-aliens-genetic-
code-180964124/))

Having said that, the NYT article reads like the researchers are still unable
to explain the discrepancies between the age and the well-formed skeleton as
well as the number of mutations. Were there any secret nuclear tests conducted
half a century ago in Chile? But that would also probably be insufficient to
cause all that. I would bet on experiments trying to cause deliberate
mutations.

~~~
seiferteric
Not if you believe in panspermia.

~~~
vadimberman
It depends on the kind of panspermia.

If it's about generic organic molecules then the DNA is a local construct. If
it's about microorganisms, then it's different.

~~~
seiferteric
True. It's also possible that DNA is the only form of life that really works,
but we just don't know yet.

~~~
lovemenot
There's 6-base pair organisms now. [https://www.sciencealert.com/new-
organisms-have-been-formed-...](https://www.sciencealert.com/new-organisms-
have-been-formed-using-the-first-ever-6-letter-genetic-code)

Also, RNA seems to work and it's possible we started out using RNA and later
evolved to DNA.

------
trhway
not directly related, just by association -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_cranial_deformation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artificial_cranial_deformation)
\- i imagine that would be a one source of alien legends (not that i don't
believe in aliens myself :) One of the references in the article is about such
practice dating back to Neanderthals
([https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/202808](https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/202808))

------
steve19
I always had assumed it was a very clever hoax, now my heart bleeds for the
poor little girl and her mother. Hopefully she will be reburied.

------
anfilt
Pictures I have seen before always made me think that skeleton was a hoax. At
least the Alien lunacy has been put to rest.

Although, I bet there will be some people who would not believe the results.

------
ggg9990
Warning: photo of dead baby at top of linked article.

------
pvaldes
mmh... I'm unsure about what to think. Reduced ribs, crest and pelvis shape
suggest more a small monkey without tail than a human to me. Is too tiny for
having calcified bones yet. Some things suggest human foetus, not stillborn.
Other are not easy to explain.

