A college professor in New Zealand has proposed a novel new approach to possibly solving the Nessie mystery: DNA testing.
By taking samples of the water from Loch Ness, professor Neil Gemmell says, scientists can perform a survey, of sorts, to learn what types of organisms are living there.
"We use environmental DNA to monitor marine biodiversity," he told the Daily Mail, "from a few liters of water, we can detect thousands of species."
As such, Gemmell believes that, if Nessie is something truly out of the ordinary, the DNA from the creature would be detected in the water via cells that fall off of large animals as they swim.
Although he is personally skeptical that there is a 'monster' living in Loch Ness, Gemmell argued that the DNA experiment would be a worthwhile test to see if anything of interest could be found.
And, considering that it would be a monumental breakthrough should such a discovery happen, he mused to New Zealand's Otago Daily Times that "I'm not averse to the idea of being proved wrong."
For now, Gemmell notes, the idea is only a proposal for now and he has yet to apply for the funds to undertake such an experiment.
That said, Nessie researchers have greeted the concept with cautious optimism, since countless quests to prove the creature's existence have happened over the years, although this particular avenue has never been tried before.
Should Gemmell's DNA test suggestion come to fruition, we can only hope that someone enlists Maury Povich when it comes time to reveal the results.
Coast Insiders looking to learn more about the legendary Loch Ness Monster can check out author Steve Alten's 5/4/2005 appearance on the program.
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Source: Daily Mail / Otago Daily Times