buried the lede, imho: we have enough DNA profiles to match their sampling up with.

I'm always stunned when reminded that a full genome sequencing has gone from Human Genome Project's extreme cost and (edit: glacial) speed to using seqencing as the easy button.

I hear we've also got machines that'll seqence, fit on a bench, and cost high five/low six figures. They've got issues to work out still though- iirc something about damaged sections causing issues.

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cmrx64 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

four figures these days. fits in your hand. nanopore is a revolution. https://nanoporetech.com/products/sequence/minion

there’s youtubers that have videos about doing this in a home wetlab. very achievable. some amateur soil biologists using this to try and sample microdiversity as the planet… humanifies.

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robertlagrant 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Ex-Nanopore employee here. One interesting thing we heard about internally was that OceanX[0] has one of our GridION[1] devices (slightly larger, and built-in compute) that they were using to track whales in the ocean by sequencing DNA found in seawater. Really cool.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OceanX

[1] https://nanoporetech.com/products/sequence/gridion

	▲	netcraft 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		huge if true had an episode about this recently https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HlLwG2xN_c

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the__alchemist 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I have a mol bio home lab, and decided against it because while the devices themselves are reasonably priced, the flow cells are an expensive disposable.

I use Plasmidsaurus instead: Pay them $15/sample online, drop off the tubes in a styrophoam box labeled with a dinosaur in a nearby university building; get the results next morning. They use Oxford Nanopore, but are loading your sample along with many other samples to maximize flow cell use.

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dubi_steinkek 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Do you have links to these youtubers? Sounds interesting

	▲	samplatt 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Not OP, but The Thought Emporium is a personal favourite. Their name belies the hands-on nature of their videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0_q-fD_lyU

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smolder 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Paleontology has been really helped by the ease of sequencing, to the point where many evolutionary arguments are moot. Humans are apes, birds are dinosaurs. Some people still dispute it, but not with evidence on their side.

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Terr_ 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

> Some people still dispute it

I particularly like this Futurama clip on the subject. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VzGtk7Ip4NU

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pfdietz 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> birds are dinosaurs

Not that I doubt that, but how does DNA help, when we have no DNA samples from dinosaurs?

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throwaway27448 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Birds are dinosaurs because they are in the clade dinosauria. Their closest living quadrupedal relatives by genetic distance are indeed crocodiles.

But you're right, it is the fossil record that provides the strongest evidence.

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pfdietz 2 days ago | parent [-]

I meant, "we have no DNA evidence from non-avian dinosaurs".

Saying that birds have the same DNA as birds is not evidence of much of anything. :)

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greazy a day ago | parent | next [-]

Phylogenetics is amazing, given surviving members of a clade we can reconstruct the ancestors. Phylogeny techniques can use additional info, eg paleontological record.

Eg here's a nice paper discussing Bayesian phylo combined with rexord sampling. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/paleobiology/article...

I'm in an adjacent field so take it with a grain of salt.

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throwaway27448 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I think the genetic distance from crocodiles is still pretty strong evidence.

	▲	pfdietz 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		That just shows they diverged from crocodilians after that clade diverged from turtles. It doesn't show birds and dinosaurs are more closely related to each other than birds are to crocodilians (but the fossil evidence shows that.)

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mpaepper 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/scientists-discover-well-pres...

	▲	pfdietz 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		That claim is widely believed to be bullshit.

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2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

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globular-toast 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Should be noted, though, the cheaper/quicker techniques do still come with compromises compared to the "gold standard" technique used for the Human Genome Project.