– DNA From 2 Million Years Ago Reveals Arctic Utopia That Was 50-65 Degrees Warmer:
Two-million-year old DNA from northern Greenland has pushed back the genetic record by 1 million years to a time when the Arctic region was 50-65 degrees warmer, and home to abundant wildlife – including mastodons, lemmings and geese, The Guardian reports.
According to researchers from the University of Cambridge and University of Coppenhagen, the northern peninsula of Greenland – which is now a polar desert – once contained boreal forests of popular and birch trees that were teeming with wildlife.
“A new chapter spanning 1m extra years of history has finally been opened and for the first time we can look directly at the DNA of a past ecosystem that far back in time,” said the researchers, Prof. Eske Willerslev, adding “DNA can degrade quickly but we’ve shown that under the right circumstances, we can now go back further in time than anyone could have dared imagine.”
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