UPDATE: Starchild Skull 2010 Nuclear DNA Recovery, Strong Evidence of Sentient Alien Life on Earth

ehh.. kind of interesting I guess. I don't feel like this proves anything extraterrestrial and it needs to be checked and reviewed.

Er...interesting.

A few questions though - Why was this skull saved/preserved? Was it discovered as a result of a mining operation or archeologists searching? What is the name of the mine it was recovered from? is there any documentation of the find from the era it was found? Where has it been kept until it first had DNA testing done?

I keep an open mind about hings, but these questions need answering. The story is light on area of the skull's origins. Which to me, is the first thing to put to rest before making other assumptions.

Funny, the Trace Labs office is only about a mile from my house. Not sure they'd welcome my visit or if they'd even know the answers to those questions.

I would like to know more about Kennewick Man though. That is an absolutely fascinating story.

Umm, sorry dude, but that skull is human. I studied human remains and that is absolutely 100% nothing but modern human. I'd have to analyze it up close to try to figure out what pathology is involved. Offhand it looks like a hydrocephalic child or a child whose sutures closed too soon, causing the brain to become stunted. If it had a jaw it could be aged pretty easily.

Does anyone REALLY think this is evidence for alien life?? I'm sure there is life on other planets, but the distance between us and the possible gap in time between advanced societies probably means none of us will ever meet.

Assume there are 1 billion stars in the Milky Way and there are at least two carrying sentient life (Earth and X). What do you think the odds are the life form on X would have anything close to human DNA, or even have DNA.

I am ignoring all the other improbabilities of extra-terrestial life finding us and getting here.

Paranormal researcher Lloyd Pye says he obtained the skull from Ray and Melanie Young of El Paso, Texas, in February 1999. According to Pye, the skull was found around 1930 in a mine tunnel about 100 miles (160 km) southwest of Chihuahua, Mexico, buried alongside a normal human skeleton that was exposed and lying supine on the surface of the tunnel.

Pye's "Starchild Project" supporters claim that the skull is that of an extraterrestrial infant, or the hybrid offspring of an extraterrestrial and a human female.

Steven Novella of Yale University Medical School concludes that the cranium exhibits all of the characteristics of a child who has died as a result of congenital hydrocephalus, and that the cranial deformations were the result of accumulations of cerebrospinal fluid within the skull. DNA testing in 1999 found standard X and Y chromosomes in two samples taken from the skull, conclusive evidence that the child was not only human (and male), but that both of his parents were human, since each contributed one sex chromosome.

DNA testing in 1999 at BOLD, a forensic DNA lab in Vancouver, British Columbia found standard X and Y chromosomes in two samples taken from the skull, "conclusive evidence that the child was not only human (and male), but both of his parents must have been human as well, for each must have contributed one of the human sex chromosomes". Further DNA testing at Trace Genetics, which specializes in extracting DNA from ancient samples, in 2003 recovered mitochondrial DNA from both skulls. The child belongs to haplogroup C. Since mitochondrial DNA is inherited exclusively from the mother, it makes it possible to trace the offspring's maternal lineage. The DNA test therefore confirmed that the child's mother was a Haplogroup C human female. However, the adult female found with the child belonged to haplogroup A. Both haplotypes are characteristic Native American haplogroups, but the different haplogroup for each skull indicates that the adult female was not the child's mother.

-- Excerpts from Wikipedia:Starchild skull, links added from references in the Wiki article.

So, it's agreed that the 900 year old skull appears to be deformed, right? And "normal" humans have a certain level of genetic variance. So if the sample was from a deformed human, wouldn't the other DNA be similarly messed up?

I'll be impressed when it's peer-reviewed AND when outside researchers get a chance to evaluate it.

I once saw a human skull wit one big eye in the middle of the face. Yup...a cyclops! The genetic mishap that produces such a deformity isn't conducive with life and the skull was from a fetus. But I guess if it had been found by someone who didn't know what they were looking at we'd be discussing a lost race of One eyed aliens! (Futurama not just a joke perhaps??)

Interesting food for thought, to say the least.

I was done buying "official" explanations of anything when I was 25.

I look forward to hearing more about this in the future.

Agreed.
Great seed, Xziled

The COH only applies in dealing with other members. I can say whatever I want about the ideas expressed in an article. And you can't have an intelligent conversation about an subject that is ridiculous.

First off there is no missing link at all. You need to actually look at hominid evolution. There's a steady progression in brain ccs. No scientist believes in a "missing link", that's complete creationist claptrap. Not to mention the skull is only 900 years old.

As for the mDNA, they sequenced 9.5% which would tell you nothing. This isn't peer reviewed in any way shape or form. Since the actual results aren't there we have no idea if they are even comparing them to the right bases nor are they normalizing the results. If the neanderthal study used that process there would have been millions of differences. Not to mention those differences in mtDMA would result in massive changes in nuDNA which would have been easily seen in the actual DNA tests that these money grubbing losers conveniently ignore. There would have been massive chromosomal differences that would be immediately apparent. Two previous DNA tests showed conclusively that it had both a normal human Y and X chromosome, hence it was a male human child. Previous mtDNA studies concluded it was a Native American child. Bone studies showed it was a standard example of a child with hydrocephalus.

But sure, take the word of a couple people who ignore all independent study and then proceed to ask for 7 million dollars to "further their studies".

Not to mention, are you accusing me of self promotion?

He's accusing the people on the website you posted of self promotion, which they are.

are you accusing me of self promotion?

No, I was accusing the Starchild site of being self promoting. But, now I know you are defensive.

found this article to be interesting news

Each to his own. But, I like to distinguish between @!$%# and shinola.

X, I second P.K.'s comments.

Not sure why anyone is impressed with the skull anyway. I've seen WAY cooler deformities in human remains. It's only a kind of interesting anomaly.

People get upset because there are many people that try and promote what are essentially hoaxes and some people are tired of all the exposure given to it and other hoaxes like those "monster" stories or UFO's or other stories.

Very interesting seed, Thanks. I think I will be following this for the duration. I for one believe in the possibility of extraterrestials--mighty grandiose of us humans to believe that we are the center of the universe. The argument of hydro encephalopathy has merit, however I believe the significant differences in mtDNA from the known human haplogroups is quite intriguing...Food for thought. Thanks

That is the point. It is a belief. Not something based on facts or reality. You only want to believe that advanced life forms exist outside Earth but there is no evidence that proves it. This article only proves a variety of hominid lifeforms not the existence of life outside Earth. This article is misleading.

I am sorrry, I disagree. This article has provided some interesting evidence and theories. The skull fragment WITHOUT A DOUBT contains human DNA and that was determined in 2003 by random blasting and PCR. So--we definitely have human DNA in that skull fragment. But we also have something else which has been discovered recently due to technologial advances in genome sequencing. By examining mitochondrial DNA (which is highly conserved in the human species and has been for 200,000 years)--what we have is DNA sequences coding for proteins that are not present in the only known and accepted 23 haplogroups present in the human species. Experimental error could account for some, but not all of this. Only time will tell. A human child with that many mutations in mtDNA would not survive- would be spontaneously aborted as a fetus-, therefore the only explanation is that this child was not totally human--he was alien if you will. IMO

therefore the only explanation is that this child was not totally human--he was alien if you will. IMO

Seems far more likely that degraded DNA in the sample would account for those differences.

Preservation has a LOT to do with how much DNA can be recovered. Tutankhamun was unusually well preserved.

I was waiting for that reply and my answer is "True", and further scientific testing will eventually end this debate one way or the other...Geez, where is Fox Mulder when you need him..

I preferred Scully. Actually my friends in college called me Scully (partially because my hair was just like hers and partially a play on "skull" since I was studying human remains.)

I liked her too. I just loved!!! the x-files.

your argument doesn't hold water Alan, my friend.

:-) My argument has to fly because it's still the most likely explanation. :-)