Leading a new era in ancient DNA research

A new ancient DNA lab at Emory is mapping little-explored human lineages, studying genetics of the deep past to better understand modern-day populations of the Americas. Emory junior Rosseirys "Ro" De La Rosa is helping analyze DNA that she extracted from ancient bones unearthed in Uruguay — the remains of an Indigenous people known as the Charrúa. “Very few remains of the Charrúa have been found,” De La Rosa says. “They were largely wiped out by colonialism and a lot of mystery surrounds them. Anything that we can learn is important.” It may be possible to connect the ancient Charrúa to modern-day populations unaware of their link. “Culture matters,” says De La Rosa, who is continuing to work on the project remotely this semester. “Leaning about your own culture gives you a sense of unity and connection that you can pass down to others.” De La Rosa is a member of the Lindo Ancient DNA Laboratory, headed by John Lindo, Emory assistant professor of anthropology. The state-of-the-art facility, funded by major grants from National Geographic Explorer and the National Science Foundation, opened in January in Emory's Psychology and Interdisciplinary Sciences Building. It is one of the few in the world involved in every step of the complex process of solving mysteries surrounding ancient remains. "We build projects from the ground up," Lindo says. "We extract DNA from ancient remains here, sequence it here, analyze it here, and publish the results." Most previous ancient DNA work involves people of European ancestry. A focus of the Emory lab, however is exploring how environmental changes — including those caused by European contact — affected the biology of Indigenous and other populations of the Americas."Our work can connect people to ancestries they potentially don't know about," Lindo explains. "It can also give them insights into how historic, and even prehistoric, events may be affecting them today, especially in terms of health risks and disparities." eScienceCommons: Leading a new era in ancient DNA research
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BlueAnt Ribbon streams your music wirelessly

Enjoying the music on the go is always fun, and today we have a device that will let you enjoy in music wirelessly wherever you go. BlueAnt has announced its latest multi-functional Ribbon music streamer that  lets you stream music via Bluetooth to any speaker. In addition, Ribbon doubles as a headset, because you can attach it to your shirt and connect your headphones to it, so you can enjoy in music
while on the go. Ribbon works as a Bluetooth 3.0 receiver, and it comes with 3.5mm  stereo output, so you can easily connect it to any speaker system that has 3.5mm AUX input, using the AUX cable. We
have to mention that   Ribbon comes with a built-in microphone, so you can use it to for calls as well. As for streaming, Ribbon is using Apt-X technology, and the device itself comes with volume control and
playback buttons.In addition, if you’re using Ribbon with Android or iOS device, you can use it to listen to your text messages. This music streamer will provide you with six hours of play time, and up to 250 hours
of standby time, and as for the recharge, it takes less than two hours for battery to recharge completely. BlueAnt Ribbon music streamer should be available soon for $69. Source: Saqatorrent
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