Thursday, May 6, 2010

WE ARE ALL NEANDERTHALS...

...at least, those of us of European heritage.

From the Telegraph:

Experts are now convinced that early modern humans and Neanderthals interbred between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago.

As a result, between one and four per cent of our DNA comes from the prehistoric creature, according to the research.

Human-Neanderthal relations occurred as the first pioneering bands of homo sapiens ventured out of Africa, scientists believe.

When they reached the Middle East they ran into groups of Neanderthals who preceded them and it is now thought that they mated.

The discovery emerged from the first attempt to map the complete Neanderthal genetic code, or genome. It more or less settles a long-standing academic debate over interbreeding between separate branches of the human family tree.
....

Professor Svante Paabo, director of evolutionary genetics at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, who led the international project, said that humans in Europe all have "caveman biology".

African humans did not come into contact with Neanderthals but may have bred with other unknown human sub species, he said.

Oh dear! What will the creationists say about this? I suppose the findings won't matter, because the world is only 6000 0r 7000 years old, and the scientific results cannot possibly be true. Oh, but they will mock those of us who do not share their opinions all the more!

And when we tell a person, "You're acting like a Neanderthal," the accusation will have no bite.

Thanks to Lapin for the link.

4 comments:

  1. the "may have bred with other unknown human sub species" sounds enticingly mysterious. However it does rather also sound as if someone is just making it up.

    Mimi, I think you are right, creationists will just file it in the too-hard basket.

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  2. Cathy, scientists could hardly map the genes of an unknown human sub species.

    Now we know that, in a sense, we are sub-human, which doesn't surprise me an awful lot.

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  3. I dunno, Mimi. As I read the paper, I get the very strong impression that some of us are still breeding with other unknown human sub-species, and it ain't limited to Africa by any means.

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