Spider 'is 20 million years old'

BBCNews ^ | 9/30/05 | BBCNEWS

[bigmac0707]

A scientist has described a spider that was trapped and preserved in amber 20 million years ago.

Palaeontologist Dr David Penney, of the University of Manchester, found the 4cm long by 2cm wide fossil during a visit to a museum in the Dominican Republic.

Since the discovery two years ago, he has used droplets of blood in the amber to reveal the age of the specimen.

It is thought to be the first time spider blood has been found in amber and scientists hope to extract its DNA.

Dr Penney, of the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, said he had used the blood droplets to trace how, when and where the spider died.

It is a new species from the Filistatidae family commonly found in South America and the Caribbean.

Dr Penney believes it was climbing up a tree 20 million years ago when it was hit on the head by fast flowing resin, became engulfed in the resin and died.

He claims the shape and position of the blood droplets revealed which direction the spider was travelling in and which of its legs broke first.

"It's amazing to think that a single piece of amber with a single spider in it can open up a window into what was going on 20 million years ago," he said.

"By analysing the position of the spider's body in relation to the droplets of blood in the amber we are able to determine how it died, which direction it was travelling in and even how fast it was moving."

He first saw the fossil during a visit to the Museo del Ambar Dominicano, in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

Dr Penney reports his findings in the latest issue of the journal Palaeontology.

[chaos_5]

Carbon 14
Its radio active and created by all living carbon-based organisms. The blood would contain this because it is organic, unlike most fossil which are little more than mineral imprints of what once was.
This is a typical dating method.

[mlc9852]

I'm pretty sure carbon dating doesn't go back nearly 20 million years.

[SamAdams76]

There is really no such thing as a perfect date. Too much anxiety. Too many pathetic attempts to stimulate conversation. Conversation is usually stilted and awkward.

My advice is to have the sex first and then talk afterwards. The sex usually loosens you up a little and allows for more relaxed conversation (not to mention a less stressful dinner).

[chaos_5]

That’s because we where transplanted to this planet by aliens! Therefore, there are no missing link fossils….

Ummm *ponders life*

[ErnBatavia]

massive infestation of Black Widow spiders

I feel like the Pest Control Guru this year. We're usually inundated with 'em, but I got diligent in spring, after the rains, and kept up with the "bug granules" and spraying around the house every three or four weeks.

I've only seen ONE this summer! Of course due to the chemicals I've now got five eyes, and maybe I haven't got them triangulated quite right yet...

[chaos_5]

"So, if half of the carbon 14 has decayed to nitrogen 14"

Now thats an act of alchemy I would love to see!!

Carbon-14 decays to carbon.

[chaos_5]

You’re right about the limit of the method.
It stands to reason that a finite amount of material cannot decay infinity.
So, the question of how old the spider really is a better question than I originally thought.

[Brilliant]

No, actually, it does not:

"Both C-12 and C-13 are stable, but C-14 decays by very weak beta decay to nitrogen-14 with a half-life of approximately 5,730 years."

http://www.ndt-ed.org/EducationResources/CommunityCollege/Radiography/Physics/carbondating.htm

[mlc9852]

Thanks. :)

[SunkenCiv]

Wow, this topic was a bit of a...

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks bigmac0707. Note: this topic is from 9/30/2005. Blast from the Past. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.

[Cronos]

If some scientist things it would be great to clone a T-rex, show him the scene from Jurassic Park where the T-rex eats the lawyer sitting on the john. hehehe.

And what exactly is wrong with cloning a T-rex that only likes to chomp on lawyers? :)

whether they are sitting on a john or not...

[Cronos]

CB has an interesting description — he was the one who first told me about the Gap theory (between Gen 1:1 and 1:2)

[CynicalBear]

The length of each day was established the first day and haven’t changed but a few seconds since.

Genesis 1: 5And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.