Amelia Earhart Mystery May Soon be Solved
August 6, 2009 by Grace Ibay
Filed under Health
Amelia Earhart may have lived more than 70 years ago, but she still holds as much (if not more) appeal when she died as when she was alive. For starters, she was the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and would have made the longest round-the-world flight had she not crashed somewhere in the Pacific.
Her remains and that of her airplane were never found, although the skeletons of a tall, Caucasian female, some ound in Gardner Island (now Nikumaroro) in 1940. Unfortunately the skeletons were misplaced years later, and Amelia Earhart’s disappearance stayed unsolved through much of the 20th century. Some believe that Earhart survived the crash and lived on the island.
With nothing but that theory, Ric Gillespie and the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) went back to Nikumaroro Island in 2007. Gillespie found a camp and 1930s make-up and two broken glass, that gave hope that this might where Earhart spent her last days. And thanks to advances in DNA technology, scientists may be on the brink of solving Earhart’s mysterious death. Next summer, an expedition will begin to gather mitochondrial DNA at the site and compare that to Amelia Earhart family samples.
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) breaks down more slowly than nuclear DNA and is found in body parts where there is very little nuclear material, like the hair shafts or fingernails. Within a cell, there are hundreds of mtDNA compared to two copies of nuclear DNA, so there is a possibility of finding more mtDNA scattered around than DNA. mtDNA is passed exclusively through the mother, so any person born from the same maternal lineage will have the same mtDNA sequence. Unfortunately, this characteristic makes mtDNA more variable among unrelated individuals than nuclear DNA.
If the TIGHAR investigators have any luck, the cold-case mystery of Amelia Earhart will be solved by next year.
Image: Public Domain
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/02/amelia-earhart-disappearance-nikumaroro
Where does the 110 years come from? From the date of AE’s birth? She died less than 110 years ago and that is a fact!
hi Aviatrix… yes I suppose I should have phrased that from the time she died, but we don’t know when that was exactly. I’ll rephrase the sentence. Thank!