Its only a mollusk. Really.

September 24, 2003 10:07 AM

A Cautionary Tale: DNA Analysis of Alleged Extraterrestrial Biological Material: Anatomy of a Molecular Forensic Investigation .pdf file
::From The National Institute for Discovery Science via The Daily Grail::
[more inside]
posted by anastasiav (6 comments total)

Quoting from the Abstract of the Article:

In investigating cases of alleged anomalies, particularly when physical evidence appears to corroborate the anomalous nature of an event, a tendency to jump to hasty conclusions can manifest."

"In September 2000, an object resembling a claw was found by a family in a bedroom of their Californian home. The family reported they were in the midst of an intense series of visitations by purported extraterrestrials. Thus, the preliminary DNA analysis on this claw began to appear to "fit in" with the multiple reports of high strangeness events as reported by the primary eyewitnesses.... Six separate rounds of subsequent DNA analysis, using different and sometimes very novel approaches, were carried out to bring this case to a conclusion."

"...painstaking DNA analyses and the use of bioinformatics methodology over a 12 month period by highly qualified teams of experts in three countries was necessary to establish that the biological specimen found in the house was a mundane terrestrial mollusk. "
posted by anastasiav at 10:09 AM on September 24, 2003

anastasiav, are you suggesting that this serial-murdering mollusk should not have been put to death by lethal injection?
posted by stonerose at 10:12 AM on September 24, 2003

but....HOW DID IT GET INTO THE BEDROOM!!?
posted by drinkcoffee at 10:46 AM on September 24, 2003

posted by Witty at 11:08 AM on September 24, 2003

There's a aphorism among doctors that goes, "When you hear hoof beats, think of horses, no zebras."
posted by Cerebus at 2:19 PM on September 24, 2003

I for one welcome our new clam overlords. I would like to remind them that I can be useful in rounding up others to work in their plankton mines. </runs away>
posted by Blue Stone at 3:18 PM on September 24, 2003