SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Science -- Long in the tooth

SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Science -- Long in the tooth: "A tooth from On Your Knees Cave Man � wrapped in cotton and shipped via Federal Express � arrived there in 2003. Brian Kemp, a Ph.D. candidate, removed the tooth's crown and hammered out a quarter-gram portion of root. He subjected it to bleach, a decalcifying chemical and a protein-devouring enzyme. With a silica extraction, he got the tooth's DNA to jump out of the solution.
With the same process forensic scientists use to link DNA to criminals, Kemp tricked the purified DNA into copying itself millions of times. The resulting sequences � the oldest DNA ever extracted from human remains in the Americas � revealed some of the old man's secrets. "