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Shedding our penis spines helped us become human, DNA study hints
Guardian ^ | Wednesday 9 March 2011 | Ian Sample

Posted on 03/10/2011 1:50:12 PM PST by Cardhu

Genetic comparison with chimps suggests that losing chunks of DNA – including one associated with penis spines and facial whiskers – played a crucial role in making us human.

Scientists have identified a clutch of subtle genetic changes that have shaped our minds and bodies into the unique form that sets humans apart from chimpanzees and the rest of the animal kingdom.

The work by researchers in the US represents a landmark in a search that has occupied philosophers and scientists for millennia and one that goes to the heart of understanding what it means to be human.

The findings offer up the humbling conclusion that the secret of human success may owe more to what we lost along the path of evolution, rather than anything we gained.

When the human genome was first deciphered more than a decade ago, some scientists expected to find extra genes that explained why humans had an intellectual edge over their closest living relatives and other species. But since diverging from chimpanzees around seven million years ago, it turns out that our human ancestors lost several hundred snippets of DNA, which together led to traits that are uniquely human, the researchers claim.

In ditching these chunks of DNA, our ancient ancestors lost facial whiskers and short, tactile spines on their penises. The latter development is thought to have paved the way for more intimate sex and monogamous relationships. The loss of other DNA may have been crucial in allowing humans to grow larger brains.

Intriguingly, hardly any of the lost DNA was from genes, which make the proteins that are the building blocks of life. Instead, the missing DNA came from areas of the genome that regulate where and when certain genes are active.

(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Education; Science
KEYWORDS: getaspine; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; napl; penis; spinelessdick; spines
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To: Larry Lucido
Penis spines?
 
Well. Looks like our primitive friends know more than we give them credit for.
 



41 posted on 03/10/2011 2:15:05 PM PST by Responsibility2nd (Yes, as a matter of fact, what you do in your bedroom IS my business.)
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To: Cardhu
Because of the continual genetic comparison between humans and chimpanzees without ever mentioning comparative differences amongst other life forms, my suspicion is that a great deal of commonality exists between all life forms.

While a human and a chimp may be 97 percent identical. A human and a pine tree may perhaps be 90 percent identical?

42 posted on 03/10/2011 2:18:08 PM PST by fso301
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To: paudio
are more common in animals that face intense competition for mates, and where females are likely to mate with many males in rapid succession.

Author must be talking about "Holder's People".

43 posted on 03/10/2011 2:25:49 PM PST by DCBryan1 (FORGET the lawyers...first kill the "journalists". (Die Ritter der Kokosnuss))
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To: Cardhu
*It never ceases to amaze me at how much detail these scientists can infer from evidence that isnt there.*

There is something fascinating about science.
One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture
out of such a trifling investment of fact.
~Mark Twain.

44 posted on 03/10/2011 2:26:42 PM PST by PATRIOT1876 (The only crimes that are 100% preventable are crimes committed by illegal aliens)
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To: Larry Lucido

lmao...

Good one Larry!!


45 posted on 03/10/2011 2:27:32 PM PST by sit-rep
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To: Slings and Arrows
Not-A- Ping...
46 posted on 03/10/2011 2:29:43 PM PST by The SISU kid (I feel really homesick all the time & so do all the other aliens.....)
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To: MrB

I think the Apostle Paul said it first, roughly the same. Romans 7:15


47 posted on 03/10/2011 2:29:53 PM PST by ReverendJames (Only A Painter Or A Liberal Can Change Black To White.)
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To: Cardhu

Don’t be ridiculous. How would lawyers ever stand up?


48 posted on 03/10/2011 2:31:03 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: frithguild

LOL


49 posted on 03/10/2011 2:31:13 PM PST by CommerceComet (Governor Romney, why would any conservative vote for the author of the beta version of ObamaCare?)
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To: Cardhu

Little Willie sez that he needs his spine back, please.


50 posted on 03/10/2011 2:35:18 PM PST by MARTIAL MONK (I'm waiting for the POP!)
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To: Cardhu
One missing section of DNA was found to block a gene that, in other animals, stifles the growth of brain cells.

So that explains the stupidity of libtards. They are not missing the specific section of DNA, and the gene that inhibits the growth of brain cells is not blocked.

51 posted on 03/10/2011 2:35:20 PM PST by mjp ((pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, natural rights, limited government, capitalism}))
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To: Larry Lucido
Who has the penis spine ping list? Or did we lose that too?

We're hydraulic.


"The evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins speculated in 2006 that the loss of the bone in humans, when it is present in our nearest related species the chimpanzee, is a result of sexual selection by females looking for signs of good health in prospective mates. The reliance of the human penis solely on hydraulic means to achieve a rigid state makes it particularly vulnerable to blood pressure variation. Poor erectile function betrays not only physical states such as diabetes and neurological disorders but mental states such as stress and depression.[6]

It has also been speculated that the loss of the bone in humans, when it is present in our nearest related species the chimpanzee, is because humans evolved a mating system in which the male tended to accompany a particular female all the time to attempt to ensure paternity of her children which allows for frequent matings of short duration.

Observation suggests that primates with a baculum only infrequently encounter females, but engage in longer periods of copulation which the baculum makes possible, thereby maximizing their chances of fathering the female's offspring. For humans, it is almost impossible to tell when the female is fertile so frequent matings would be necessary to ensure paternity."

52 posted on 03/10/2011 2:40:26 PM PST by Cardhu
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To: driftdiver

And to think that we support these inane studies with our tax dollars. Is it any surprise that we are broke?


53 posted on 03/10/2011 2:40:38 PM PST by 353FMG (Liberalism = Communism under the guise of compassion.)
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To: Cardhu

54 posted on 03/10/2011 2:48:31 PM PST by Paradox (Matthews has the emotional equilibrium of a pregnant, gambling chihuahua on meth.)
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To: Larry Lucido; Fromhardt; Mobile Vulgus; Islaminaction; sausageseller; Suvroc10; humblegunner; ...

I have the list!

(It’s composed of nothing but zotted bloggers.)


55 posted on 03/10/2011 2:51:10 PM PST by shibumi (I am The Nexus One - I want more life, Baby I aint done!)
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To: Larry Lucido
Who has the penis spine ping list? Or did we lose that too?

We don’t have one. If you have penis spines you post over at Democratic Underground.
56 posted on 03/10/2011 2:55:09 PM PST by Cheburashka (Democratic Underground: The Hogwarts of stupid.)
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To: The SISU kid; MeekOneGOP; Conspiracy Guy; DocRock; King Prout; Darksheare; OSHA; martin_fierro; ...
I was wondering where I left those...


57 posted on 03/10/2011 2:56:42 PM PST by Slings and Arrows (You can't have Ingsoc without an Emmanuel Goldstein.)
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To: Cardhu

I imagine they also made the “second date” a much greater possibility.


58 posted on 03/10/2011 3:00:17 PM PST by Ronin ("Dismantle the TSA and send the screeners back to Wal-Mart.")
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To: Responsibility2nd

A charter member of the Steepledick tribe.


59 posted on 03/10/2011 3:03:42 PM PST by OldEagle
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To: Larry Lucido; Eaker; TheMom

I think Eaker has it but the Mom won’t let him take it out of the house by himself.......:o)


60 posted on 03/10/2011 3:09:51 PM PST by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But have a plan to kill everyone you meet)
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