Frozen Fritz

This weekend, I went to the Alpe di Suisi with Helen, Becky, Shadi, and Natalie, and lived it up.... German style. We were really surprised by our town, Castelrotto, which was quaint (meaning it basically shut down at 9 pm) and beautiful (we could see the Dolomites from our hostel's window). In school, German is the first language taught to the students, even though the town is technically still in Italy. The highlights? Hiking for 7 hours though the mountains, taking ski lifts up the to very top (!), having hot chocolate at the top of a mountain, the wienerschnitzel, and the German beer.

In order to get to Castelrotto, we took a train to Bolzano. In Bolzano, the South Tyrolean Archaeological Museum is the current home of the oldest human mummy in the world. His name is Ötzi, aka Frozen Fritz, and he is 5,300 years old.



He was found frozen in the snow on top of a glacier along the border between Austrian and Italian Alps. He was also found with various belongings, including a bow and arrows, and still wearing sheepskin leggings and a grass cape. Various scientific techniques were used on Ötzi, including radiocarbon dating to find his age, x-rays and CT scans to study his bones and what was left of his internal organs, DNA analyses to determine what foods were left in his stomach and intestine and if his DNA relates to any humans today (sadly, he has no living descendants), and finally, mass spectrometry analysis of his clothing to figure out what Ötzi did for a living.

Turns out, Ötzi was most likely a herdsman. Samples from his coat, leggings, and shoes were taken to study their proteins using Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight, or MALDI-TOF mass spectrom It involves a matrix made of three kinds of acid (in order to provide protons for the ionization of the protein sample), each of which has a high UV absorption rate (in order to absorb the laser irradiation effectively), low molecular weight (good for vaporization) and polar functional groups (so they can be used in aqueous solutions). The matrix is mixed with a protein sample, then allowed to dry and recrystallize on a metal plate. Then, a laser is shot at the crystals, the sample is ionized, and the molecules are accelerated into an electric field in a “flight tube,” where molecules are separated based on their mass/charge ratio. The differences in this ratio causes differences in flight times of the molecules. The mass spectrometry results revealed that the animal skins Ötzi wore were from the specific species of animals that were herded seasonally throughout the region where he was found. MALDI-TOF is currently used to check the purity of animal skin and fur products, such as cashmere.


What's the best part about Ötzi's discovery, you might ask? You can buy Iceman key chains, backpacks, cigarette lighters... and, there is even an Ötzi drink!



For more info...
http://www.microbiology.science.ru.nl/tech/malditof/
http://www.mummytombs.com/otzi/news.htm
http://www.bolzano.net/english/iceman.html