Soumya Sagar holds a degree in medicine and used to do research in neurosurgery at the University of California, San Francisco. His work has appeared in New Scientist, Science, Discover, and Mental Floss. He is a passionate science writer and a voracious consumer of knowledge, especially trivia.
A new DNA analysis has identified the remains of Captain James Fitzjames, a Royal Navy officer who disappeared on a doomed Northwest Passage expedition in Canada more than 175 years ago.
The study's first author, Douglas Stenton, an archaeologist at the University of Waterloo in Canada, and his colleagues extracted DNA from a molar found in 1993. They also collected DNA samples of 25 living descendants of the Franklin expedition's crew. The Y chromosome profiles of the tooth matched one of the living relatives, who was the second cousin of Fitzjames five times removed. Both"cousins" shared a paternal ancestor — Fitzjames' great-grandfather.
By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.Part of the expedition's history is known thanks to Fitzjames, who left an ominous note in a stone cairn at Victory Point on King William Island. The note documented the death of several crew members, including Franklin, and the survivors' decision to abandon the ship and travel by foot to Back River in Nunavut, the northernmost Canadian territory.
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