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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."
... is either a thoughtless use of words or pathetic effort to sensationalize. Neither is flattering.
this means that we're really all brothers and sisters, right?
There should be some sort of correlation in the results.
(not trying to rain on your parade or anything)
Back on topic. Humans nearly went extinct during the nuclear missile crysis... In terms of survival requirements, we should have already sent a few groups to the moon and mars.
People enjoy watching disaster movies like 2012 (I saw it as a comedy myself), but they should realise that focusing all your resources (as a species) on "I want a TV in every room" is a losing strategy.
If I had the money, I would be long gone. "Yes, 21st century society is very advanced and we have everything we need, but if they have a power outage or similar in a hidden bunker in Russia, we all die".
new sig
If this is a troll, it must be a kick-ass troll ...
I think parent poster should be getting insightful instead; talking about not trusting blindly; even if it is science ...
It's only with an open mind, more options can be found. Remember; there used to be science about the earth being flat ages ago.
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
Yet, as we're discovering, "junk" DNA is really a misnomer.
It was never meant to denote that it did nothing, just that we hadn't discovered its function yet, so it got put aside for the moment.
I mean, the whole race started from just two people, right?
More like from a guy having sex with his rib.
I honestly can't tell if you're trolling or not. Well done sir!
Yes, the idea that the "effective" population of today's human race is only 10,000 is the most disturbing thing in the article. If that's true then the vast majority of us are not contributing anything worth noting to the gene pool. That's not a very nice thought.
Other species would develop thicker fur in colder climates. We simply wear thicker clothes. It's not like all diversity is necessary or useful for people that reshape the environment to fit them instead.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
No, maybe you should learn to read and pick up a science book.
You call a book evidence? How is a book evidence? So, if I write a book refuting your book, then do I negate your evidence? Funny how you call a book that contradicts itself evidence, but real evidence you call pseudo-science because it doesn't fit your belief.
Christians? I thought Genesis was a Jewish story, first.