In 2010 scientists in New Zealand and Australia announced they had developed methods to extract DNA from moa eggshell. This would help scientists discover which species of moa particular eggshells belonged to, as well as answer the question of when moa became extinct. The DNA shown here is from the eggshell of the moa Dinornis robustus. The fluorescent spots are the DNA molecules around the circular crystals of the eggshell structure.
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University of Western Australia, Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis
Photograph by Paul Rigby
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