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CLAIRE O'CONNELLbrings you news from the world of science

Antibiotics are just old beer

Antibiotics were officially discovered in the 20th century, but thousands of years ago people were being exposed to them, according to a study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

The researchers examined bone samples from Sudan from almost 2,000 years ago and found evidence for exposure to tetracycline, which they suggest may have been produced through fermentation processes.

"We tend to associate drugs that cure diseases with modern medicine," says Emory University researcher George Armelagos in a statement. "But it's becoming increasingly clear that this prehistoric population was using empirical evidence to develop therapeutic agents. " - Some 13 per cent of the variation we uncovered has not been seen before. It's likely that some of that variation is specific to the individual and some is more diagnostic of him being Irish. We will only find out which is which over time." Prof Brendan Loftus from UCD's Conway Institute on the decoding of an Irish person's genome.