Alien Encounters! Background: In the year 2050, an incredible archeological discovery was made in the middle of a remote area of South America. It was an area where a large meteor had struck the Earth. A pile of alien bones was found completely mixed up together. The explorers who made the discovery immediately informed the organization known as Scientific Phenomena Over Our Fabulous Sphere (S. P. O. O. F. S). S. P. O. O. F. S. sent out its best scientists to collect DNA samples. (Yes, these aliens really did have DNA!) The scientists were able to recover small fragments of DNA which they brought back to their labs. After much work, they determined that the DNA fragments represented 9 genes. Purpose: In this activity, you will determine the traits of these unfortunate recovered aliens by analyzing their DNA and determining the amino acid sequences of the resulting small protein fragments.