New Study Suggests Different Origins of Native Americans - http://clapway.com/2015/07/26/new-study-suggests-different-origins-of-native-americans796/

The Origins of Man

The exact history of how we came to be is one that is still quite unclear and constantly revised. Many cultures around the world hold their own creation stories about the creation of the world and how the people came to be. But we all have one thing in common, the Earth.

This is why the Human Genome Project went underway in 2005 to help map out the genetic trail across the world. What little is known about the map thus far can be found on here on the National Geographic website.

the origins of native americans

But also in a documentary/book that features geneticist and anthropologist Spencer Wells called the Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey. As mentioned, the story was made into a documentary as well, detailing the journey of tracing the trail across the world.

The origins of Native Americans came about in the last few minutes of the film. It suggested that the origins of Native Americans point to Siberia, based on blood analysis.

A new study shows evidence for a different story of the origins of Native Americans

Up to then, that’s all we really knew about the genetic trail of humankind and recently a new study was published on the 21st of this month. This study was published in Nature that suggested a different story for certain groups of people in the Americas.

In the study, the origins of Native Americans, more specifically the ones in South America by the Amazon, may share more traits with the indigenous people of Australia, New Guineans, etc. This interesting note was not seen in other natives from the North or Central Americas.

Of course, such a finding was interesting, surprising and threw off everything that was known thus far from the Genome project. So further and more intensive studies were conducted on the area where the link showed up.

interesting ramifications of study

The results showed that the finding was not a fluke, but also suggested the link may be older than the migration into the Americas. But to gauge which group came first, where from, and other such questions, they need to get a DNA sample from the remains of that group of people.

As you can imagine, there have not been any found as of yet. But since there is a link to Australians, looking at remains from there may be an option as well. All this new research tells us is that perhaps it wasn’t just a one-way stop that the Americas came to be populated.

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New Study Suggests Different Origins of Native Americans

Alligator Blood May Be the Key to Our Next Antibiotics - http://clapway.com/2015/06/24/alligator-blood-may-be-the-key-to-our-next-antibiotics654/

All Hail, Penicillins!

Medicine changed completely when Alexander Fleming found out that penicillins had miracle qualities to treat infections. The discovery was a happy accident, as many medical breakthroughs are, and it changed the world in that odd moment in 1928.

That’s not even an exaggeration. By 1940, penicillins were being mass produced and used to cure nearly everything. But that has begun to be problematic in the medical world.

It’s not a mystery that, because of overuse, the effects of many antibiotics are wavering. Viruses and bacteria have grown resistant to the drugs we produce. Also, antibiotics need to be extracted from nature, making them hard to find and produce. The daunting rise of superbugs has only highlighted our desperate need for new avenues of antibiotics, and many ideas are being explored in the hunt to find new, more effective medicines.

Turns Out A Good Place to Look Is In Crocodilians!

Alligators and crocodiles have natural immunology that renders them capable of living in almost any habitat. They have a naturally impressive amount of enzymes that can fight off bacterias and viruses. And it makes sense: crocodilians have outlived many of the planet’s species.

So far, 45 peptides have been isolated in alligator blood.With a little help from modern science, the enzymes in the blood could be tweaked to fight off even the HIV Virus.

This Isn’t New News

In 2007 Dr. Mark Merchant set out with a grant to find comparable enzymes and proteins in Caimans, and by 2011 his team had success with alligator blood cells. Now, it seems the efforts have gained more headway, and a few headlines.

Unfortunately, antibiotic research is funded to a large extent by pharmaceutical companies which are already making good profits from the antibiotics we know and trust. Funding the long and tedious process of isolating and testing microbial communities is a financial gamble for them. Even though these newfound enzymes have been isolated in alligator blood, there is nothing set in stone, and that doesn’t seem like much incentive.

Without the proper funding this breakthrough may die young. When penicillin was first pushed into mass production, the demand outnumbered the supply! It was during World War II, and the introduction of the drug led to a staggering decrease of deaths by infections, which accelerated the process of its implementation.

Today, the incentive to fund new antibiotics is driven by hypothesis: What will happen when we can no longer treat resistant-infections?

The Future Looks Bright!

The discovery of unique peptides in alligator blood is something to be celebrated! With the right push, the antibiotic research will continue with a similar fervor to that of penicillin, and the study has already begun exploring peptides in different crocodilians. After these impressive advances in the study, it seems that alligator blood holds a special link to the future of medicine.

Alligator Blood May Be the Key to Our Next Antibiotics