Christina Warinner: Tracking ancient diseases using ... plaque

http://www.ted.com Imagine what we could learn about diseases by studying the history of human disease, from ancient hominids to the present. But how? TED Fellow Christina Warinner is an achaeological geneticist, and she's found a spectacular new tool -- the microbial DNA in fossilized dental plaque.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes, Pattie Maes on the "Sixth Sense" wearable tech, and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts. Closed captions and translated subtitles in a variety of languages are now available on TED.com, at http://www.ted.com/translate

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  Science & Technology

[uiluj13]

lol a scientist telling me not to brush my teeth =P

[Jenny Schontag]

Studying plaque sounds a little gross until she talks about studying human feces. Okay, plaque it is...

[Schpankme Verimuch]

LOL .. scientists also tell you to consume Fluoride .. and you do it .. LMAO

[Gr4yW0rld]

Tadpoles dont evolve into frogs. They go through metamorphosis. Metamorphosis is only a more extreme word for puberty. It doesnt change DNA, but the same DNA activates certain hormones to be produced when it reaches a certain age. In humans it makes hair start growing in places and urges to develop, in frogs it causes their tails to dissolve and legs to form. It is extreme puberty, not evolution

[Sageisevil]

how tadpoles evolve into frogs

[jacobhamselv]

Well she's welcome to analyse my shit

[007MrYang]

I didn't know the word calculus was used for something else other than math

[007MrYang]

I didn't know archaeological geneticist was a real job. That's awesome!

[thewildplaces]

Who else spent the entire video staring at her teeth?

[bersaba]

Can we get a follow up talk because the topic was interesting and because she's nice to look at.

[VideoNewZ9]

A real life "Bones" only prettier