Comments on: MonsterQuest Marathon

By: Carpenoctem666

Carpenoctem666 — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 01:06:17 +0000

I have to agree with you gridbug. They do come at it with a good approach. that squid honestly scared me and amazed me at the same time. I was quite impressed

By: sschaper

sschaper — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:36:07 +0000

Over-all I’m pretty impressed with the series. When I think now of how the series starring Autumn Williams could have been if they’d taken this approach rather than the spooky approach.

They really found something on the squid episode.

The Sasquatch episode I wasn’t able to catch all of, but the DNA situation is interesting – and problematic, which is why it isn’t all over the news.

One lab got zero DNA results. Another looked for the problem and found the screws were galvanized and somehow that masked the DNA, made a “filter” and found mitochondrial DNA that was one unit off from human, as opposed for 35 units off from pan troglodytes. I don’t recall of it was base pairs (then it sounds too small) or something else.

So, the blood has been ‘filtered’ (or maybe the data were filtered) to eliminate the effect of the galvanization, and then one lab gets a very tiny difference from human DNA. The other lab got -nothing-. You can see why this isn’t a solid result.

There has been the on-going problem with Neandertal DNA as some labs will filter anything human and only measure what is left to avoid contamination, thus biasing the results to speciation rather than a mere racial difference from H.S.s.

In this case, I don’t know how we can know yet if the results are due to human contamination, or not. The lab indicated, I think, that they wanted to make sure that that 1/35 difference from human was not in fact within the known human range before giving a definite result.

And you always need independent verification in science, and with one lab reporting no results, and the other reporting almost completely modern human results, we don’t have that yet.

What we do have is a very good reason to mount another expedition to that region.

By: markbird1

markbird1 — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:31:27 +0000

So while they are there investigating, no one looks for fingerprints or other evidence INSIDE the cabin, that even if the cabin was cleaned up/repaired, there still should be incredibe evidence preserved somewhere? The idea of DNA/hair samples is interesting but i think a latent finger/palm/hand print to go along with the always “unknown” primate/man DNA would be even better for its case. This is frustrating…

By: Ceroill

Ceroill — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 04:53:12 +0000

I think part of the answer is that the scientists involved are trying to keep it low key until they have more to show. They don’t want to overplay their hand with just one intriguing sample.

By: cabochris

cabochris — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 01:18:11 +0000

Ceroill, thanks for your thoughts. As I mentioned before I only caught the last few minutes of the show. However I would think having real DNA evidence, of a non-human/perhaps unknown primate, would be World News! Would not similar crime DNA hold up in court? Just a thought, and I am by no means an expert. But this is very exciting, and if it is not the DNA of a Sasquatch, then what is it?

This seems a monumental discovery and either is or is not the DNA of an unknown animal. From what I saw, it leans towards some sort of unknown primate. Based on the story presented, that would likely be a Sasquatch?

Unless I am missing something here, even if this DNA evidence is not yet proof of Bigfoot, perhaps down the road it will be, with further study as you stated?

That is why again, I would think the press would be all over this? This is real science and obviously they have something here. And it is not Bison hair! I sure hope this one does not slip through the cracks, as this could be the scientific proof we have been waiting for!

By: DARHOP

DARHOP — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:24:58 +0000

I love that art work. And I’m looking forward to the reruns. Catch the stuff I missed when I fell asleep.

By: Ceroill

Ceroill — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:24:17 +0000

cabochris- No, it doesn’t prove anything yet. Like the man on the show said they need to do a lot more tests, broaden the base of data. But from what that single test indicated, whatever the dna belongs to is a LOT closer to human than to any other living primate. But to confirm this they need a lot more data from different parts of the dna.

By: cabochris

cabochris — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 21:02:38 +0000

I only caught the tailend of the Bigfoot show. Regarding the results from the DNA blood test, DOES THAT FINALLY PROVE BIGFOOT? They said results were PRIMATE and somewhere between human and chimp! Seems like this should be all over the news?

By: gridbug

gridbug — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:22:03 +0000

Thumbs up for Monster Quest! Having seen all four episodes thus far, I have to give them credit for presenting the info with a sensible approach as opposed to the sensationalist angle that seems to derail so many other “mystery creature” programs. The only time I cringed was when they ran the advert for the upcoming BIGFOOT episode with the tag line “everyone thinks this video is fake” superimposed over the Patterson/Gimlin footage. I really really hope they employ the same even-handedness in that episode as they do in all the rest, or I’m gonna be pretty disappointed.

PS: Squids are the scariest monsters of them all. And that’s coming from a Lovecraft fan.

By: aletaaa

aletaaa — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 17:51:48 +0000

MysteryMan,
Do what I did. I bought it on Itunes for 1.99 and watched it on my laptop.
I don’t have cable lol.