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Humans Nearly Went Extinct 70,000 Years Ago

Posted by Soulskill on from the come-from-behind-victory dept.

Josh Fink brings us a CNN story discussing evidence found by researchers which indicates that humans came close to extinction roughly 70,000 years ago. A similar study by Stanford scientists suggests that droughts reduced the population to as few as 2,000 humans, who were scattered in small, isolated groups. Quoting: "'This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species' history,' said Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence. 'Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA.'"

5 of 777 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The way things are going by MightyYar · · Score: 5, Informative

    Considering ice ages last between 40,000-100,000 years, that doesn't seem too significant to predict the climate. They have ice core data that goes back over 100,000 years. I suppose it could be a coincidence that:
    • The most dramatic CO2/Temperature increase in history just HAPPENS to coincide with mankind figuring out that they could burn shit from underground.
    • Scientists have developed models that match this historic data quite well, and even when set to be as conservative as possible, STILL predict a warming trend based on CO2 input.

    So yeah, maybe there is some input that we haven't yet discovered that explains the warming trend. Lord, that would be nice. But until some evidence of that is uncovered, I'm going to trust the nice, testable, repeatable climate models over people's thought experiments, untestable claims, and "what-ifs".

    P.S. - why don't ordered and unordered lists work anymore?
    --
    W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
  2. Re:It bothers me by NeutronCowboy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Urm? This is a new one. See pretty pictures here: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/graphs/. You also missed the time frame on the extreme predictions - about 50 to 100 years out. So far, what little predictions have been made have turned out to be too conservative.

    --
    Those who can, do. Those who can't, sue.
  3. Re:The way things are going by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Informative

    History constitutes less than 2000 years. Thats the farthest back for which there are any usable records.

    Uhh, dude, even if I don't mention ice cores and other geological evidence, you do realize that we have "usable records" older then 2,000 years, right?

    Records survive from the Roman Kingdom -- which is over 2,500 years old. Ditto for records from the Roman Republic (2,000 - 2,500 years old). Some surviving artifacts and records from Babylon are at least as old (moreso in many cases). The Iliad is around 2,800 years old. The Torah is over 3,000 years old. The Egyptian pyramids and associated artifacts/records are even older than that. All of which have survived to the present day.

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  4. Re:The way things are going by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Romans threw out their last king around 500 BC

    Which might explain why the GP said that records from the Roman Kingdom were over 2500 years old and that after that they had the Roman Republic. You should have kept reading after you saw the phrase Roman Kingdom.

  5. Re:It bothers me by verayh · · Score: 5, Informative

    What I'm saying is: if we're already half way there, where are the effects we should be seeing today? Where are the droughts and famines and floods that everyone is talking about? Is there some reason to believe that there's a threshold value, and once we cross it the problems will begin. It seems to me that if the CO2 if trapping heat, we should see the temperature rise with CO2. That would mean that we can expect another 1/2 degree rise at the most in the next 50 years. Droughts: You ask any Australian, and particularly, Melbournians, if they've had any drought!

    Famine: Well, there's a lot of Africans who still don't get enough to eat.

    Floods: Might as well include storms, so think about the number of hurricanes in the last couple of years, and many people in Europe have been experiencing SOME flooding.

    Rising water: that's a really slow effect. Mind you, eroding shore lines are a sure sign of this phenomena.

    Just because you don't see it happen instanteously doesn't mean its not happening.

    AND you should be GLAD its not happening instanteously!