Here we go again. Since it must not have had enough publicity last year, a Russian “research” team are rolling out their three-fingered alien mummy again. If you missed this clear-as-day hoax previously, let me summarize it for you.
A group of questionable scientists with a long history of pulling mummy hoaxes (such as this) discovered a mummy covered in a mysterious white powder with an elongated skull, six fingers, and six toes near the Nazca lines in Peru. Oh, and the mummy is definitely female since it is missing a Y chromosome. Because although it is an alien, their sex chromosomes are just like ours.
“Right now we are making a detailed analysis to see if the shape of the position of all the chromosomes, of all the amino acids, coincides with ours,” Konstantin Korotkov, a professor at the Russian National Research University, told website Sputnik. “It is a humanoid being, meaning that she also has 23 chromosomes like us.”
Where do we even start?
First of all, we have 23 pairs of chromosomes so each human has 46 chromosomes in total. Secondly, having 23 pairs doesn’t make you humanoid. The sable antelope and the Reeves's muntjac both have the 23 pairs and they don’t look like us.
Next: Korotkov's academic claims. He’s allegedly a professor at the prestigious National Research University. Too bad that a quick online search shows that he doesn’t work there. And this isn't even a smear against him, it's by his own admission. Although on his research profile, he also claims to be a professor at ITMO in the Department of Computer Engineering and Design, which doesn’t have him listed as an employee there either. But don’t worry about his livelihood, Korotkov also has a business selling cameras that can photograph souls for $850. Bargain.
The team claims the mummy is either 6,500 years old or 4,000, and Korotkov believes that the alien civilization it originated from was almost completely wiped out by either great floods or a comet. The evidence for it? Oh, don’t make me laugh. Where we're going we don’t need any evidence.
"A handful of those who survived met savage tribes of prehistoric men and taught them handicrafts and farming. They mated with local women. They were three-fingered and this genetic feature could make itself evident in future generations,” Korotkov explained.
Ah, the classic "the proof will reveal itself in a few years (after I've made a quick buck) and I will be proved right then”.
No. If you were thoroughly debunked last time, don't try and wheel out your hoax again.
And now an appeal. If you are planning a future similar alien hoax, please can you make sure your spokesperson is someone with a basic grasp of genetics? My blood pressure and I would appreciate that.