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Tracking ancient diseases using ... plaque

769,024 views | Christina Warinner • TED2012

Imagine what we could learn about diseases by studying the history of human disease, from ancient hominids to the present. But how? TED Fellow Christina Warinner is an achaeological geneticist, and she's found a spectacular new tool -- the microbial DNA in fossilized dental plaque.

Imagine what we could learn about diseases by studying the history of human disease, from ancient hominids to the present. But how? TED Fellow Christina Warinner is an achaeological geneticist, and she's found a spectacular new tool -- the microbial DNA in fossilized dental plaque.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

Christina Warinner

Christina Warinner

Archaeological geneticist

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Christina Warinner is a researcher at the University of Zurich, where she studies how humans have co-evolved with environments, diets and disease.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.