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NFT: What is your take on the Atacama Skeleton?

DanMetroMan : 1/16/2018 2:21 pm
"Researchers made a mysterious discovery in Chile’s Atacama Desert in 2003. This tiny skeleton looked human, but had many features that left scientists scratching their heads. When the images hit the internet, many people assumed the only explanation could be aliens. Thankfully, more reasonable heads prevailed and the remains were subjected to a battery of forensic testing in order to identify how this anomalous skeleton, nicknamed Ata, came to be.

So what made this specimen so peculiar? For starters, the skeleton was only 15 centimeters (6 inches) long. Many initially speculated that the remains were from a premature birth or miscarried fetus, though others disregarded the whole thing as a hoax.

Ata’s size isn’t the only thing that perplexed researchers; a host of physical deformities did not make it entirely clear if the skeleton is human or a non-human primate. Humans have 12 ribs, but this individual only had 10. The skull indicated the organism could have had turricephaly, which gives the head a cone-shaped appearance (which really didn’t help dissuade people from thinking Ata was an alien). Additional deformity of the face and jaw made the head look squished, giving it an appearance that was even further away from a typical human. "


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Cue  
spike : 1/16/2018 2:26 pm : link
Randy
Only one explanation I can think of  
Beer Man : 1/16/2018 2:28 pm : link
Clearly an alien. Humans don't have purple hands. Everyone knows that.  
Marty in Albany : 1/16/2018 2:34 pm : link
.
I'm not a scientist in a pertinent field,  
Mr. Bungle : 1/16/2018 2:38 pm : link
so I don't have a take.
I would need to know more  
8 Ball : 1/16/2018 2:40 pm : link
about the thumbs.
Looks like someone found  
GIANTS128 : 1/16/2018 2:45 pm : link
my GI Joe doll I lost as a kid.....
saints Begorrah!  
weeg in the bronx : 1/16/2018 2:51 pm : link
where's me pot o gold!
Some MesoAmericans Bound the Heads of their Infants,  
OntheRoad : 1/16/2018 3:08 pm : link
resulting in a cone- or pyramid-shaped top of the head.

Perhaps it's an infant born with serious birth defects. There is an off chance it's a new species of prehuman like Homo floresiensis. Maybe it's a hoax. There's a long way to go before concluding aliens.
Insects in this person's world  
I Love Clams Casino : 1/16/2018 3:15 pm : link
must have been terrifying...especially something like a tarantula
To  
DanMetroMan : 1/16/2018 3:27 pm : link
be clear I am not suggesting this is an alien, rather what people thought this was etc.
It's obviously  
capegman : 1/16/2018 3:32 pm : link
The remains of an early Giants left tackle.
they've had it for 14 years  
CardinalX : 1/16/2018 3:44 pm : link
and they haven't answered all their questions yet?
Where have we seen this before?  
x meadowlander : 1/16/2018 4:06 pm : link
RE: they've had it for 14 years  
DanMetroMan : 1/16/2018 4:22 pm : link
In comment 13792901 CardinalX said:
Quote:
and they haven't answered all their questions yet?


No, which is why I find it to be so weird.
Looks like some kind of non-human primate  
732NYG : 1/16/2018 4:26 pm : link
Look at the femurs and how short and thick they are in relation to the rest of the body. I would love to believe it is an alien, but some kind of ape is my best guess
RE: Looks like some kind of non-human primate  
DanMetroMan : 1/16/2018 4:27 pm : link
In comment 13792987 732NYG said:
Quote:
Look at the femurs and how short and thick they are in relation to the rest of the body. I would love to believe it is an alien, but some kind of ape is my best guess


DNA test says 91% human (explanation for why not 100% is degradation of the sample vs. alien or primate etc)
RE: RE: Looks like some kind of non-human primate  
732NYG : 1/16/2018 4:33 pm : link
In comment 13792989 DanMetroMan said:
Quote:
In comment 13792987 732NYG said:


Quote:


Look at the femurs and how short and thick they are in relation to the rest of the body. I would love to believe it is an alien, but some kind of ape is my best guess



DNA test says 91% human (explanation for why not 100% is degradation of the sample vs. alien or primate etc)


Could possibly be something close, such as an earlier hominid? Maybe a bonobo, which are very close to humans genetically. We have to remember that we are something like 90 (I didn't look this number up fwiw) percent similar to fruit flies genetically. Or maybe it's just a deformed human. I don't know, but it sure is compelling.
I'm extremely impressed by how how all the little guys joints  
WideRight : 1/16/2018 4:33 pm : link
are so rigid and intact. When he came to be however many years ago, the polymer chemists must have molded him from a highly cross-linked industrial grade resin. Its a mystery how they were able to do all that so long ago.

RE: RE: Looks like some kind of non-human primate  
montanagiant : 1/16/2018 4:33 pm : link
In comment 13792989 DanMetroMan said:
Quote:
In comment 13792987 732NYG said:


Quote:


Look at the femurs and how short and thick they are in relation to the rest of the body. I would love to believe it is an alien, but some kind of ape is my best guess



DNA test says 91% human (explanation for why not 100% is degradation of the sample vs. alien or primate etc)

Humans share over 90% DNA with Primates
This "expert" said "is human, there's no doubt about it."  
DanMetroMan : 1/16/2018 4:36 pm : link
Among the apparent abnormalities, Ata sports 10 ribs instead of the usual 12 and a severely misshapen skull. "I asked our neonatal care unit how you would go about analyzing it. Had they seen this kind of syndrome before?" Nolan says. He was directed to pediatric radiologist Ralph Lachman, co-director of the International Skeletal Dysplasia Registry at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. "He literally wrote the book on pediatric bone disorders," Nolan says. Lachman was blown away, Nolan recalls: "He said, 'Wow, this is like nothing I've ever seen before.' "

To study the specimen, Nolan sought clues in Ata's genome. He initially presumed the specimen was tens or hundreds of thousands of years old—the Atacama Desert may be the driest spot on the planet, so Ata could have been preserved for eons. He consulted experts who had extracted DNA from bones of the Denisovans, an Asian relative of European Stone Age Neandertals. It turned out that their protocols weren't necessary. "The DNA was modern, abundant, and high quality," he says, indicating that the specimen is probably a few decades old.

To the chagrin of UFO hunters, Ata is decidedly of this world. After mapping more than 500 million reads to a reference human genome, equating to 17.7-fold coverage of the genome, Nolan concluded that Ata "is human, there's no doubt about it." Moreover, the specimen's B2 haplotype—a category of mitochondrial DNA—reveals that its mother was from the west coast of South America: Chile, that is.
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This guy too  
DanMetroMan : 1/16/2018 4:37 pm : link
At least one expert has a more prosaic take—but agrees that the specimen is human. "This looks to me like a badly desiccated and mummified human fetus or premature stillbirth," says William Jungers, a paleoanthropologist and anatomist at Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York. He notes that "barely ossified and immature elements" of the hands and feet, and the wide open metopic suture, where the two frontal bones of the skull come together down the middle of the forehead. "Genetic anomalies are not evident, probably because there aren't any," he says. Nolan responds that the rib number and epiphyseal plate densities remain a riddle; while he is open to the fetus hypothesis, he thinks that the jury is still out.

What's strange to me is that for (most) humans, our last 2 pairs of  
732NYG : 1/16/2018 4:40 pm : link
ribs are floating, meaning they don't attach to other ribs or to the sternum. This skeleton looks like it has at least one set of floating ribs from what I can see while still having 2 less pairs. Just weird.
Primordial dwarfism maybe? Progeria?  
732NYG : 1/16/2018 4:41 pm : link
.
RE: This guy too  
WideRight : 1/16/2018 4:43 pm : link
In comment 13793021 DanMetroMan said:
Quote:
At least one expert has a more prosaic take—but agrees that the specimen is human. "This looks to me like a badly desiccated and mummified human fetus or premature stillbirth," says William Jungers, a paleoanthropologist and anatomist at Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York. He notes that "barely ossified and immature elements" of the hands and feet, and the wide open metopic suture, where the two frontal bones of the skull come together down the middle of the forehead. "Genetic anomalies are not evident, probably because there aren't any," he says. Nolan responds that the rib number and epiphyseal plate densities remain a riddle; while he is open to the fetus hypothesis, he thinks that the jury is still out.


Human skull bones don't fully fuse until one year after birth. So your esteemed buddy is full of shit
RE: Primordial dwarfism maybe? Progeria?  
WideRight : 1/16/2018 4:44 pm : link
In comment 13793036 732NYG said:
Quote:
.


Plastic?
RE: RE: This guy too  
DanMetroMan : 1/16/2018 4:45 pm : link
In comment 13793044 WideRight said:
Quote:
In comment 13793021 DanMetroMan said:


Quote:


At least one expert has a more prosaic take—but agrees that the specimen is human. "This looks to me like a badly desiccated and mummified human fetus or premature stillbirth," says William Jungers, a paleoanthropologist and anatomist at Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York. He notes that "barely ossified and immature elements" of the hands and feet, and the wide open metopic suture, where the two frontal bones of the skull come together down the middle of the forehead. "Genetic anomalies are not evident, probably because there aren't any," he says. Nolan responds that the rib number and epiphyseal plate densities remain a riddle; while he is open to the fetus hypothesis, he thinks that the jury is still out.




Human skull bones don't fully fuse until one year after birth. So your esteemed buddy is full of shit


Buddy? I'n quoting an article lol
Pretty obvious, it's one of these guys  
HomerJones45 : 1/16/2018 4:45 pm : link
Wrong Thumbs  
idiotsavant : 1/16/2018 4:46 pm : link
Pass
Here's  
DanMetroMan : 1/16/2018 4:48 pm : link
some video if anyone is interested
Link - ( New Window )
RE: RE: Primordial dwarfism maybe? Progeria?  
732NYG : 1/16/2018 4:49 pm : link
In comment 13793048 WideRight said:
Quote:
In comment 13793036 732NYG said:


Quote:


.



Plastic?


You can DNA test plastic? Never knew that
Uncanny  
MOOPS : 1/16/2018 4:52 pm : link
You can test anything for DNA.  
WideRight : 1/16/2018 4:57 pm : link

You can "find" fake shit in a desert and make stuff up about it too!
RE: You can test anything for DNA.  
732NYG : 1/16/2018 5:08 pm : link
In comment 13793090 WideRight said:
Quote:

You can "find" fake shit in a desert and make stuff up about it too!


You sound like a guy who knows what he's talking about.
RE: Here's  
WideRight : 1/16/2018 5:52 pm : link
In comment 13793064 DanMetroMan said:
Quote:
some video if anyone is interested Link - ( New Window )


Just to help you with BS 101.

Look at the piece of plastic. It resembles a miniturized skeleton with all those anomalies ... but no flesh or skin....

Now look at the x-ray. There are lots of inconsistencies, but most obvious to you and everyone except Giants732 is that it is draped in skin. Check out the belly. Fake or not?
RE: RE: Here's  
732NYG : 1/16/2018 6:03 pm : link
In comment 13793192 WideRight said:
Quote:
In comment 13793064 DanMetroMan said:


Quote:


some video if anyone is interested Link - ( New Window )



Just to help you with BS 101.

Look at the piece of plastic. It resembles a miniturized skeleton with all those anomalies ... but no flesh or skin....

Now look at the x-ray. There are lots of inconsistencies, but most obvious to you and everyone except Giants732 is that it is draped in skin. Check out the belly. Fake or not?


I mean, I'm just curious as to how you think plastic or resin contains DNA. Let alone the expert testimony, but yeah, you sure got me on this lolol
Is this a plug  
Adam G in Big D : 1/16/2018 7:28 pm : link
for the new X-Files TV show?
RE: RE: RE: Here's  
WideRight : 1/17/2018 8:11 am : link
In comment 13793213 732NYG said:
Quote:
In comment 13793192 WideRight said:


Quote:


In comment 13793064 DanMetroMan said:


Quote:


some video if anyone is interested Link - ( New Window )



Just to help you with BS 101.

Look at the piece of plastic. It resembles a miniturized skeleton with all those anomalies ... but no flesh or skin....

Now look at the x-ray. There are lots of inconsistencies, but most obvious to you and everyone except Giants732 is that it is draped in skin. Check out the belly. Fake or not?



I mean, I'm just curious as to how you think plastic or resin contains DNA. Let alone the expert testimony, but yeah, you sure got me on this lolol


It doesn't. Thats the point. Good luck getting out of middle school....
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