SoS 286: Time Traveling & Ancient DNA with Elena Essel

Chris dives into the world of ancient DNA methods with Elena Essel, a molecular geneticist and ancient-DNA researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. Her work focuses on developing methods to recover ancient DNA from archaeological materials while preserving valuable specimens. In the 2023 Nature study, she co-designed the research, helped develop and test the non-destructive DNA extraction method, performed laboratory and data-analysis work, and co-wrote the paper. The study demonstrated that ancient human DNA can be recovered directly from porous bone and tooth artifacts, potentially linking prehistoric objects with the people who made, handled, carried, or wore them.

------------------------------ Find the paper discussed in this episode: Essel et al. (2023). Ancient human DNA recovered from a Paleolithic pendant. Nature, 618, 328-332. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06035-2 ------------------------------ Contact: Elena Essel: elena_essel@eva.mpg.de ------------------------------ Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and Human Biology Association: Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, BlueSky: @humbioassociation.bsky.social

Episode host: Chris Lynn, Co-Host Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: cdlynn@ua.edu, Twitter:@Chris_Ly

Episode producer: Anna Samsonov, HBA Junior Fellow, SoS Producer Email: anna_samsonov1@baylor.edu / Bluesky: @annasamsonov.bsky.social