DID YOU KNOW?

1.      The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was featured in the motion picture Jurassic Park.

  In this story, scientists find fossilized blood-sucking insects. These insects, which had bitten dinosaurs, were caught in tree sap that fossilized into amber.

           The scientists in the film extracted dinosaur blood from the fossilized insects and used the    DNA in the blood to recreate dinosaurs through cloning.

2.      When a human egg and sperm combine, nearly a billion different gene combinations are possible.

3.      New Zealand is the world leader in forensic palynology and in the acceptance of pollen and spore evidence in court cases. Palynological evidence is underutilized in many parts of the world, including the United States.

4.      Pollen grains can be extracted safely from rocks that are millions of years old. This is a valuable characteristic not only for palynologists, but also for oil companies and archaeologists.