Posted on 04/22/2010 5:12:55 AM PDT by Pharmboy
Genetic data points to ancient liaisons between species.
Archaic humans such as Neanderthals may be gone but they're not forgotten — at least not in the human genome. A genetic analysis of nearly 2,000 people from around the world indicates that such extinct species interbred with the ancestors of modern humans twice, leaving their genes within the DNA of people today.
The discovery, presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on 17 April, adds important new details to the evolutionary history of the human species. And it may help explain the fate of the Neanderthals, who vanished from the fossil record about 30,000 years ago. "It means Neanderthals didn't completely disappear," says Jeffrey Long, a genetic anthropologist at the University of New Mexico, whose group conducted the analysis. There is a little bit of Neanderthal leftover in almost all humans, he says.
The researchers arrived at that conclusion by studying genetic data from 1,983 individuals from 99 populations in Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. Sarah Joyce, a doctoral student working with Long, analyzed 614 microsatellite positions, which are sections of the genome that can be used like fingerprints. She then created an evolutionary tree to explain the observed genetic variation in microsatellites. The best way to explain that variation was if there were two periods of interbreeding between humans and an archaic species, such as Homo neanderthalensis or H. heidelbergensis.
"This is not what we expected to find," says Long.
Using projected rates of genetic mutation and data from the fossil record, the researchers suggest that the interbreeding happened about 60,000 years ago in the eastern Mediterranean and, more recently, about 45,000 years ago in eastern Asia. Those two events happened after the first H. sapiens had migrated
(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...
That would explain liberals :)
And the result is Ben Roethlesberger..............
“What was the equivalent of beer goggles for hunter-gatherers?” ping...
Ben can always have a job as a Geico Caveman.
That explains Barbra Streisand.
Giggity giggity...
Oooga Booga...when the cave is dark, it don’t matter....
It must be true. They have a picture.
I think that what happens after inappropriate relations with an iguana.
I did but only once. Besides I was just a teenage boy.
That is because Neanderthals ARE HUMANS!!!
Some more than others...
Ping
Just goes to show some people will hit anything...
Did this activity cooincide with the invention of beer?
Probably had something to do with 2:00 A.M., too!
Just like the series finale of Battlestar Galactica...
That is because Neanderthals ARE HUMANS!!!
Ya beat me to it!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.