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Humans Nearly Went Extinct 1.2M Years Ago
Hugh Pickens writes "Scientific American has a story on researchers from the University of Utah who have calculated that 1.2 million years ago, at a time when our ancestors Homo erectus, H. ergaster, and archaic H. sapiens were spreading through Africa, Europe, and Asia, there were probably only about 18,500 individuals capable of breeding in all these species together (PNAS paper here). Pre-humans were an endangered species with a smaller population than today's gorillas and chimpanzees. Researchers scanned two completely sequenced modern human genomes for a type of mobile element called Alu sequences, then compared the nucleotides in these old regions with the overall diversity in the two genomes to estimate differences in effective population size, and thus genetic diversity between modern and early humans. Human geneticist Lynn Jorde says that the diminished genetic diversity one million years ago suggests human ancestors experienced a catastrophic event at that time as devastating as the Toba super-volcano in Indonesia that triggered a nuclear winter and is thought to have nearly annihilated humans 70,000 years ago."
Because 1.2 million is the same as 70,000, right? You must work for Goldman Sachs.
But why should we assume a uniform rate over time, when evolutionary theory says that genetic differentiation happens in leaps and bounds?
Sources should always be cited when making this kind of argument. I'll do it for you this time:
Pr. Charles Xavier, X-Men movie introduction speech
I don't expect them to use the term 'catastrophic clamactic event' in a flowing sentence.
Quite right. Such terms should be reserved for events like the 1912 San Francisco Shellfish Riots.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
"I do not understand," reads an ancient line of pictographs depicting the sun, the moon, water, and a Sumerian who appears to be scratching his head. "A booming voice is saying, 'Let there be light,' but there is already light. It is saying, 'Let the earth bring forth grass,' but I am already standing on grass."
So... an alternate headline would be "Ancient Sumerian on grass hears voice of God".
The enemies of Democracy are
So that's what 'Ribbed for Your pleasure' comes from!
Meep.