Study: Humans, Neanderthals Did Not Mate

Discovery News ^ | 3-17-2004 | Larry O'Hanlon

[blam]

Study: Humans, Neanderthals Did Not Mate

By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News

Neanderthal vs. Human

March 17, 2004 — The verdict is in: humans and Neanderthals did not date — much.

Genetic evidence from Neanderthal and early human bones indicates that if there was any intermixing of the two species, it was so little that it left no genetic trace. The discovery was published in the current edition of PloS Biology.

"I thought this was an incredibly significant paper," said Stanford University anthropologist Richard Klein. "So much of the time in paleoanthropology and other 'softer' sciences the arguments seem to go on forever."

This work by a team of European scientists led by Svante Paabo finally brings some solid evidence into the matter, he said.

For years anthropologists have been debating whether humans, when they wandered north into Europe from Africa more then 30,000 years ago, might have interbred with Neanderthals who lived there, said Klein. The evidence, until now, was mostly restricted to the shape of fossil bones.

Now, by isolating the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from four Neanderthals and five contemporary European early humans, the team has found no evidence of any noticeable genetic crossover.

Earlier attempts by Paabo's lab to extract intact genetic material from Neanderthal bones and comparing it to modern humans were inconclusive because of the difficulties of avoiding contaminating the samples with the genetic material of the lab workers who did the work, the researchers explain.

That's why this time they compared the mtDNA from Neanderthals to their contemporary humans — all of whom had mtDNA very different from modern humans.

That's not to say no mixing went on, the researcher cautioned. It would take a lot more samples from a larger number of fossils to rule out small amounts of mixing.

"About 50 early modern human remains would need to be studied to exclude a Neanderthal [sic] mtDNA contribution of ten percent," Paabo and his colleagues reported. "To exclude a five percent contribution, one would need to study more early modern human remains than have been discovered to date."

So the final word on how little the Neanderthals contributed to the modern human gene pool is that it's impossible to say.

For Klein's part, he suspects that humans and Neanderthals were just too different to find each other romantically interesting. "It's not that they couldn't, perhaps, but they probably weren't interested."

Early humans would have probably found Neanderthals very odd-looking and strange-acting, said Klein. So odd-looking, he said, that if you dressed a Neanderthal in a suit and put him on a subway, most people would probably move to another car.

The very prominent jaw and cheekbones, the large nose, as well as the swept-back forehead and low I.Q., would probably make a Neanderthal appear repulsive to most humans.

[blam]

Ping.

[Seruzawa]

So the final word on how little the Neanderthals contributed to the modern human gene pool is that it's impossible to say.

And we paid how much for this earth-shattering bit of news?

[TheBigB]

I beg to differ. There is simply no other way to explain Howard Stern.

[billorites]

Did too.

[ElkGroveDan]

Wrong!

[Asclepius]

The very prominent jaw and cheekbones, the large nose, as well as the swept-back forehead and low I.Q., would probably make a Neanderthal appear repulsive to most humans.

Until they had a few beers, yes.

[dfwgator]

"Troglodyte"

(As recorded by Jimmy Castor Bunch)
JIMMY CASTOR BUNCH

What we're gonna do right here is go back
Way back into time
When the only people that existed were Troglodytes
Cave men, cave woman, Neadrothol, Troglodytes
Imagine the average cave man at home
Listening to his stereo
Sometimes he'd get up and dance
He'd move something like this "dance dance"
He'd get tired of dancing alone and look in the mirror
And say "gotta find a woman"
"Gotta find a woman, gotta find a woman, gotta find a woman"
Then he'd go down to the lake where all the girls
Would be swimming or washing clothes or something
And he'd grab one by the hair
You can't do that today fellas
'Cause it might come off
You have a hand full of hair
And she'd be swimming away from you
This was a big woman, big
Her name was Bertha, Bertha Butt -- one of the Butt sisters
She looked down on him
And started to crush him
Then she began to play him
He looked up at her and said "sock it to me"
"Sock it to me, sock it to me, sock it to me"
She looked down on him
And said "I'll sock it to you daddy"
And you know what he said
He started it all way back then
I ain't gonna lie to you
He said "right on, right on"
Hot pants, hot pants
Uh uh uh.

[Izzy Dunne]

Mary Matalin - James Carville

[taxesareforever]

The very prominent jaw and cheekbones, the large nose, as well as the swept-back forehead and low I.Q., would probably make a Neanderthal appear repulsive to most humans.


John Kerry?

[RightWhale]

So odd-looking, he said, that if you dressed a Neanderthal in a suit and put him on a subway, most people would probably move to another car.

That is absolutely the opposite of the true story. Neanderthals would pass unnoticed by most.

[4CJ]

The very prominent jaw and cheekbones, the large nose, as well as the swept-back forehead and low I.Q., would probably make a Neanderthal appear repulsive to most humans.

John Kerry? ;o)

[Spok]

This study obviously overlooked my old fraternity...

[duckworth]

"So odd-looking, he said, that if you dressed a Neanderthal in a suit and put him on a subway, most people would probably move to another car."

How intolerant! I'm ashamed to be a human!

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

STOP ME IF YOU'VE HEARD THIS: These so-called scientist never met my in-laws.

[ASA Vet]

Neanderthal appear repulsive to most humans.

Slick Willie X-42 would have been attracted to them.
He even found a dead mummy attractive.

That said, if he'd been alive back then, we still wouldn't find his DNA,
since according to his own statements he's sterile.

[RightWhale]

low I.Q.,

That's another thing. Were Neanderthals stupid? Somehow this seems like an assumption without evidence.

[CROSSHIGHWAYMAN]

Study: Humans, Neanderthals Did Not Mate

When informed of this, Madeline Albright's husband called the study group to differ.

[fish hawk]

all lies! I have videos!!!

[af_vet_rr]

That is absolutely the opposite of the true story. Neanderthals would pass unnoticed by most.

Would this explain the number of votes that Al Gore got in 2000?