transcription error breakthrough

Good catch by Cocktail Party Physics...

Prof Blair Hedges applies genetic error clock techniques to date manuscripts and books!

Ok, so I don't read PSU Press Releases either...

"The discovery that the wood blocks and metal plates used for printmaking deteriorate at a clock-like rate means that we can now use the prints as a "print clock" for determining the date a work was printed," says Blair Hedges, professor of biology at Penn State and author of the paper describing the research, which will be published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences.

Cool. Another one of these "of course..." after someone else did it.