[quote="Mark Knowles" pid='48420' dateline='1640204061
Why would we be interested in finding Wilfred Voynich's DNA? Nobody seems to doubt that he had contact with the manuscript. And why do you think Wilfred Voynich's DNA will be necessarily easier to isolate than that of the author(s)'?
[/quote]
In order to validate the putative procedure - because it would be fresher and we know the VM was in his hands for many years. Plus reference samples from living relatives could be available.
Just to be clear, I doubt there is ANY realistic chance of separating and identifying any single human DNA strand from a mixture containing, at least, scores of contaminants, human and non-human, probably all extensively degraded.
Why would we be interested in finding Wilfred Voynich's DNA? Nobody seems to doubt that he had contact with the manuscript. And why do you think Wilfred Voynich's DNA will be necessarily easier to isolate than that of the author(s)'?
[/quote]
In order to validate the putative procedure - because it would be fresher and we know the VM was in his hands for many years. Plus reference samples from living relatives could be available.
Just to be clear, I doubt there is ANY realistic chance of separating and identifying any single human DNA strand from a mixture containing, at least, scores of contaminants, human and non-human, probably all extensively degraded.