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Permafrosted Mammoth Teeth Yield World's Oldest DNA

Scientists have sequenced the world's oldest DNA from the teeth of
a mammoth that lived in Siberia more than a million years ago. The
previous record-holder for most ancient DNA was from a horse that
lived between 560,000 and 780,000 years ago.
"This DNA is incredibly old. The samples extracted from teeth
are a thousand times older than Viking remains and even pre-date
the existence of humans and Neanderthals," remarked Love Dalen,
a professor of evolutionary genetics at the Centre for Palaeogenetics
in Stockholm.
The researchers investigated DNA from molars from three sepa-
rate mammoths found in the Siberian permafrost in the 1970s.
What they found was a potentially new type of mammoth species
previously unknown to us.
However, sequencing the ancient DNA was no easy task. The
sample had been degraded into very small pieces that the researchers
had to put together sort of like a puzzle.
They claimed that there were more than a billion pieces. To per-
form this complicated task, they made use of a detailed genome
from a living African elephant. This resulted in a sample that was
viable enough to be analyzed. Love Dalén and co-lead author Patricia Peccnerovaa with an ancient
The research is published in the journal Nature. mammoth tusk on Siberia's Wrangel Island

The good and not so good of Social Media in dentistry!

Dentists are constantly told how important
social media is for their practices. But since
it has no checks or balances, social media
could also be hurting our profession.
Social media has enabled dentists from
across the globe to engage with one another
and provides a great platform to share cases
and have discussions. Moreover it has great-
ly increased the accessibility to some of the
greatest dentists in the profession that
would not be possible otherwise. But con-
stant social media use is also extremely time
consuming and can have damaging effects
on our ‘real life’ relationships.
While it is great to see the excellent cases ticularly dangerous for young dentists. The leagues on a particular situation or a treat-
presented by our colleagues on Facebook work showcased on social media platforms ment and this can get abrasive and ugly.
and instagram, it is important to remember may not be evidence based or current Individuals who start arguments or aim to
that we are viewing select cases that have accepted practice. It is important that we as upset others online often referred to as trolls
been ‘picked for social media. It is not every- dentists deliver the type of conservative, evi- are common in our profession too and we
day dentistry and we should not be swayed dence-based dentistry that we have been need to watch out for such people.
or allow these cases to question the quality taught. Networking on social media with While disagreements and healthy con-
of our own work. We should remember that other dentists can be a positive and happy structive discussions should be encouraged
individuals do not share things that are less experience. Unfortunately, like any social on social media, we should remain respect-
than perfect. situations, there may also be some negative ful of each other and steer clear of unneces-
Education from social media can be par- interactions. We could disagree with col- sary arguments.

62 Dental Practice // January-February 2021 // Vol 17 No 4