When a treasure hunter found a tiny mummified corpse in Chile's Atacama Desert 15 years ago, many people believed it was that of an alien. Now genetic sequencing says they were wrong.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Bhattacharya S et al./COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY
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The tiny corpse which the Chilean hunter, Osca Munoz, found near a church in a ghost town called La Noria in 2003 triggered the fantasies of many superstitious people. Many thought that the tiny body, with an unusually formed head, was that of an alien. There's even been a documentary movie about "Ata" the mummy — the skeleton was named after the Atacama Desert, where it was found.
Now, the speculation can stop. Researchers say they used genetic analysis to prove that Ata was a tiny premature baby, misshapen by hereditary disease. The team of scientists from the University of California, San Francisco and Stanford University published their findings in the journal Genome Research.
Circumstances of death remain unclear
It is still uncertain, however, whether the child was stillborn or died shortly after birth.
But the scientists did discover other details during their five-year-long investigation. For instance, they found multiple genetic mutations. Those were responsible for specific malformations of bones and the skull — typical for short stature, scoliosis (a twist of the spinal column) and deformations on muscles and bones. Besides the deformed skull, the body also had only ten, rather than the usual twelve pairs of ribs.
Microbiologist Garry Nolan from the Baxter Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology at Stanford says his interest in the case was triggered when he received a picture of the mummy from a friend.
5 years of research
Besides taking several samples from humans, the scientists also used reference genome samples from chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys. This helped them to rule out secondary theories about the corpse's heritage.
Genetic tests on living humans helped the researchers pinpoint the regional origin of the skeleton AtaImage: picture-alliance/dpa
A comparison to the genomes from other people in the region proved that the corpse was of Chilean ancestry. A chromosome analysis showed that Ata was a girl. The scientists extracted the material for the gene sequencing from one of the ribs.
Ralph Lachman from the Department of Pediatric Radiology at Stanford found that several parts of the girl's bones looked like they were those of a 6 or 7-year-old.
The scientists concluded that Ata had suffered from a rare bone degeneration, which results in a faster aging of bones. The fact that Ata's body was mummified by the dry and hot desert climate helped the researchers draw their conclusions. They estimate that Ata died roughly 40 years ago.
Was it a case of grave robbery?
The circumstances of how and when Munoz found Ata's body remain unresolved. Munoz did not disclose the exact date or time he found the skeleton, or where exactly he found it.
Munoz said the body was wrapped in a white cloth when he found it, with a purple ribbon inside a leather bag. That, combined with the fact that the body was found near a church — and a graveyard — suggests that the find had something to do with grave-robbery, which said to be common in that area.
That may lead researchers to conclude that Ata had most likely received a ritual burial — until her resting place was disturbed by treasure hunters, like Munoz, who sold the mummy to an antique dealer.
After that, Ata changed hands several times. The last buyer was a collector in Spain.
Nolan has called for the mummy to be buried back in Chile. "I think it should be returned to the country of origin and buried according to the customs of the local people," the scientist said.
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From the fingerprint to biometric data
125 years ago an Argentinian criminologist systematically took fingerprints of prisoners. Today there is a wealth of biometric information which police officers can collect: DNA, sounds, pictures and data.
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A standard in modern forensics for 125 years
In 1891, a Croatian born, Argentine criminologist, Juan Vucetich, started building up the first modern-style fingerprint archive. Since then, fingerprints have become one of the main forms of evidence used to convict criminals. Here, a police officer spreads dust on the lock of a burglarized apartment. Fingerprints become visible.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Archiving and comparing prints
He uses an adhesive film to capture the fingerprint. Then he glues it to a piece of paper. In the past, comparing fingerprints was a painstaking affair. Officers had to compare fingerprints found at the scene of a crime, one-by-one, with those of possible suspects. These days computers do the job.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
No more ink
Taking fingerprints used to be a messy affair - with ink and dirty hands. These days scanners have replaced the inky mess. And the data can immediately be sent to a database and turned into biometrical data.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/P. Endig
Fingerprints form an identity
The computer identifies typical spots within the ridge patterns of the fingerprint. These include forks in the lines, spots and the location of the center of the print. Fingerprints are never the same between two people - not even with identical twins.
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Vote early and vote often!
No chance! Here, officials use fingerprint scanners during an election in Nigeria. It's how they make sure the people voting are registered voters and that they only vote once.
Image: APC Presidential Campaign Organisation
Who entered Europe where?
This is an important question for officials who have to decide about the refugee or asylum status of applicants. In the European Union all migrants are supposed to have their fingerprints taken at the first point of entry - provided, of course, the local police officers are equipped with the scanners.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Weigel
Hands off! It's my data!
Many smartphones now come with fingerprint recognition software, such as the iPhone's Touch-ID. The owner of the phone unlocks it with his fingerprint. If someone else finds or steals the phone, they have no way of getting at any encrypted data within.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa Themendienst
Secure ATM banking
This is an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) in the Scottish town of Dundee. Customers wanting to withdraw money need to show biometric proof of identity - in the form of a fingerprint. Not good news for pickpockets.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Fingerprint inside the passport
Since 2005, German passports, and many other passports, contain a digital fingerprint as part of the biometric information stored on a RFID (radio-frequency controlled ID) chip. Other information on the chip includes a biometric passport photo. The facial image is similar to fingerprints: no two images are alike.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Grimm
When computers recognize faces
Facial recognition software, which uses biometrics, is well advanced. It is possible to identify suspects within large crowds, with surveillance cameras. Also internet services and private computer owners are increasingly making use of facial recognition software to sort holiday pictures and tagging them to names.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
The inventor of the genetic fingerprint
Alec Jeffreys discovered DNA-fingerprinting almost accidentally in 1984 during research at the University of Leicester. He identified a specific pattern on DNA segments, which were different for every human. He created a picture, which looks like a barcode at the supermarket.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
A barcode for every human
Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) started storing such barcodes in a federal database in 1998. Investigators have since solved more than 18,000 crimes, using genetic fingerprints.
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Clearing the innocent
It's not just criminals who get identified. Many innocent people can be cleared of criminal charges through good identification. For some, technology has saved their lives. Kirk Bloodsworth spent almost nine years on death row. The US Innocence Project has proved the false incarceration of more than 100 people using DNA evidence.
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Clarity for victims' families
The first big test for DNA-fingerprinting came with the mass murder of Srebrenica. Bodies, exhumed from mass graves, were systematically identified using DNA techniques. They were then reburied by their loved ones. Here, five year old Ema Hasanovic pays last respects to her uncle. More than 6,000 victims of the massacre - mostly men - were identified using DNA-fingerprinting.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/A. Emric
Biometric data on your phone and computer
You may be surprised, but there's biometric information in sounds and other digital data. Voice recognition software can, for instance, identify people making threatening phone calls - the human voice is also unique. And don't forget: we leave all kinds of digital traces on the internet, which hold clues to who we really are.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Warmuth (
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Inbreeding is good - for mountain gorillas
New research suggests that Africa's endangered mountain gorillas are successfully using inbreeding as a strategy to stave off extinction. The information challenges the standard thinking of inbreeding as harmful.
Image: WWF/Brent Stirton
Helping to avoid extinction
Although inbreeding is often thought to be dangerous, for endangered mountain gorillas living in the forests of central Africa, this has likely helped them survive. Research from the genomics and genetics research center Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute suggests the practice has helped mountain gorillas overcome harmful genetic mutations as adverse genetic material disappears from the gene pool.
Image: CC/by-sa-sentouno
Genetic adaptation
By studying gorilla blood samples, researchers found that not only does inbreeding help remove harmful genetic variations from the population, but that mountain gorillas are also genetically adapting to surviving in smaller populations.
Image: dapd
Inbreeding beneficial
Researchers have often thought this low level of genetic diversity may make the mountain gorilla more susceptible to diseases and environmental changes. But instead, they say, fewer harmful mutation genes were found than in more populous western gorilla populations. There, such variations can cause serious and often fatal health problems.
Image: Reisedoktor/Wikipedia
Growing in numbers
As a result of habitat destruction and poaching, by 1981 there were thought to be just 253 mountain gorillas left in the Virunga volcanic range in the triple border region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda. Through conservation and a crackdown on poaching, there are now approximately 480 mountain gorillas in the area.
Image: DW/S.Schlindwein
Neanderthals could not cope
Neanderthals, an extinct human species and a close relative of the gorilla, had comparable levels of inbreeding. However, unlike the mountain gorilla, Neanderthals were unable to genetically adapt, and the species died out thousands of years ago.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Research to aid conservation
With a genome-wide map of the genetic differences between gorilla populations now available, further data gathered could help conservation efforts. Researchers expect the findings to help identify the origins of gorillas that have been illegally captured or slaughtered. This will help gorillas be returned to the wild, and aid in prosecuting poachers.
Image: Getty Images
Uncertain future
But poachers are not the only problem. Mountain gorillas are also losing their natural habitat due to illegal farming and logging. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), 90 percent of their existing habitat will be gone by 2030, if no action is taken now to protect it.
