home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
/ Treasures of the America…Museum of Natural History / Treasures of the American Museum of Natural History.iso / pc / treasure / tr29 / t29pg03.pic (.png) < prev    next >
Macintosh Picture Format  |  1996-09-10  |  180.6 KB  |  640x310  |  8-bit (216 colors)
   ocr: Laboratornes a DNA from extinct organisms. Most fossils are the mineral impressions of bones and other hard tissues. In amber, however, muscles, membranes, nervous tissue, and even microscopic details, such as cells and organelles within them, can survive in their original organic form with astonishing fidelity. In 1992, a team of Museum scientists pioneered the extraction of ancient DNA from amber, and performed the first study on an extinct, primitive termite, Mastotermes. Amber is the fossilized form of tree resin. There are hundreds of deposits of amber 35