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For more information… Two good news articles about this news can be found here and here. A wonderful PowerPoint of a lecture by Mark Pallen provides information about the normal bacteria that are associated with the human body called commensal organisms. It provides information about why they are important, how they protect us from pathogens and what happens when they are disturbed. A paper published in Nature Geneticsvolume 6, pages 130 - 135 (1994) entitled "Identification of the remains of the Romanov family by DNA analysis" by Gill and others presented genetic evidence that the nine skeletons found in a shallow grave in Ekaterinburg, Russia, in July 1991 are those of the Romanov family. They had been tentatively identified by Russian forensic authorities as the remains of the last Tsar, Tsarina, three of their five children, the Royal Physician and three servants. This study did not include the remains of Crown Prince Aleksei, the hemophiliac heir to Russia's throne or his other sister whose graves were found years later and DNA testing confirmed their identities in 2008. A book entitled "The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II" by Edvard Radzinsky is a good resource for more information about the last Tzar of Russia. A brief history of Czar Nicholas II and his family can be found here. This web page also provides links to other related websites. |