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Neanderthal Genes Found In All Non-African Populations

Med-trump writes "Neanderthals, whose ancestors left Africa about 400,000 to 800,000 years ago, evolved in what is now mainly France, Spain, Germany and Russia, and are thought to have lived until about 30,000 years ago. Now scientists have identified a piece of Neanderthal DNA (called a haplotype) in the human X chromosome and conclude that this haplotype is present because of mating between our ancestors and Neanderthals. The study was published in the latest issue of the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution."

406 comments

  1. Someone needs to check. by blair1q · · Score: 2, Funny

    Someone needs to do a little digging to make sure this isn't just an elaborate piece of GEICO astroturfing.

    1. Re:Someone needs to check. by boristhespider · · Score: 2

      Errr, more to the point, January called and it wants its (mildly but not excessively) controversial news back.

    2. Re:Someone needs to check. by blair1q · · Score: 4, Informative

      I thought it was "homo sapiens and homo neanderthalensis miscegenated and the latter genes still exist in humans" in January.

      Now it's "if you aren't 100% African, you're part Neanderthal."

    3. Re:Someone needs to check. by TheDarkNose · · Score: 1

      I thought the former has been known for a while now.

      --
      "Obviously, you need to be an Einstein to navigate the Austrian Patent Office website." - platinumrat
    4. Re:Someone needs to check. by pro151 · · Score: 0, Troll

      Is it politically correct these days to use the phrase "Homo" in front of any words? Can't be to sure, you know. This also explains the urges I keep having to go club some animal to death and half cook it over an open fire. (Could also explain the tendency to howl at a full moon)

    5. Re:Someone needs to check. by boristhespider · · Score: 4, Informative

      As far as I understood it, it was that the evidence suggested - to some degree of certainty - that the genes of all extra-African races were different from sub-Saharan African races to a level that agreed with Neanderthal sequences. Obviously the errors were large - and acknowledged in the studies - but so far as I understood the reasoning for the implications, Homo Sapiens was reputed to have interbred with Homo Neanderthalis at least in the Middle East at about the point that we left Africa, simply because all of us who aren't predominantly sub-Saharan African have the same gene sequence as some recently-sequence Neanderthal fossils.

      So far as that goes, fair enough. I remember reading a lot of that kind of thing a good few months back. And a natural implication is that anyone who isn't sub-Sahran African probably has Neanderthal in them. (Entertainingly, of course, many sub-Saharans also will. This is due to humans, err, interacting constantly and repeatedly and the effects propogating through populations. But the studies took that kind of simple-minded thing into account, of course.)

    6. Re:Someone needs to check. by Dunbal · · Score: 1, Troll

      Get out of here and take your 2 million+ user id with you. You're no nerd. Go back to Fox News.

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
    7. Re:Someone needs to check. by blind+monkey+3 · · Score: 2

      Is it politically correct these days to use the phrase "Homo" in front of any words? Can't be to sure, you know. This also explains the urges I keep having to go club some animal to death and half cook it over an open fire. (Could also explain the tendency to howl at a full moon)

      you'd prefer gay sapiens and gay neanderthalensis maybe?

      --
      BM3
    8. Re:Someone needs to check. by pro151 · · Score: 1

      Where in the hell did 2021702 come from? LMAO, I probably have posted on /. a grand total of 50 times. Maybe it is just because I am a voracious reader? Fox News? You sir have insulted my integrity and honor, I refuse to even program any Fox channels in any of my TV's. I challenge you to a duel of wits. Oh wait a minute, you already lost withe the off-hand Fox News comment. you may now return to your Trolling, nit-wit. ;O)

    9. Re:Someone needs to check. by pro151 · · Score: 1

      Only when gay means happy and carefree. I was only making a joke, lets not get into a pissing contest because of my intended humor.

    10. Re:Someone needs to check. by jonnythan · · Score: 4, Funny

      What was that?

      I'm sorry, I can't read when 6-digit UIDs post.

    11. Re:Someone needs to check. by mirix · · Score: 1, Redundant

      it's the serial number of your account, ie. you are the 2021702nd user of /.
      He is calling you a noob.

      --
      Sent from my PDP-11
    12. Re:Someone needs to check. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "you'd prefer gay sapiens and gay neanderthalensis maybe?"

      Wouldn't it be better to use the terms GLBT sapiens and GLBT neanderthalensis

      BTW how do you pronounce GLBT anyway.

    13. Re:Someone needs to check. by pro151 · · Score: 0

      I am a noob I am told and just totally crushed by all the cutting remarks. I shall now go laugh at some other dim-wits.

    14. Re:Someone needs to check. by mswhippingboy · · Score: 1

      Put on yer glasses Grandpa. Let me go fetch yer cane so you kin whoop the young whippersnappers fer being uppity.

      --
      Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
    15. Re:Someone needs to check. by KreAture · · Score: 1

      Come now, Note my id... http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/homologene/105311 FTW or just koinkidink?

    16. Re:Someone needs to check. by rk · · Score: 4, Funny

      Eh, sonny? Speak up! My hearing aid batteries have given up, and I need my grandson to take me to Walgreens on account of my rheumatiz actin' up.

    17. Re:Someone needs to check. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So be part neanderthal or be black...
      Idk... that's a tough call. But i think i'll take the option that doesn't get me pulled over by the cops as often.

    18. Re:Someone needs to check. by Sulphur · · Score: 2

      So be part neanderthal or be black...
      Idk... that's a tough call. But i think i'll take the option that doesn't get me pulled over by the cops as often.

      Sir, you were Neandering in your lane.

      --

      DWN ; Driving While Neanderthal.

    19. Re:Someone needs to check. by Khyber · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Speaking as a gay man, your joke sucks like your mom, messy and aimless.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    20. Re:Someone needs to check. by pro151 · · Score: 1

      EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWW!

    21. Re:Someone needs to check. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Seems pretty obvious to me. Population evolves, leaves Africa (we're still running on the theory that there's been multiple waves of migration, right?) and becomes established in the north, and natural genetic drift occurs in both populations.

      Then second migration occurs, and as the two species come into contact, they start doing what comes naturally.

      In other words: I don't see why the sapiens/neanderthal distinct is terribly relevant, we're all carrying Australopithecine DNA.

      (And, true to stereotype, I initially typed the above as DNS. We've all got more or less the same thing there, too.)

    22. Re:Someone needs to check. by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 5, Funny

      Quiet down youngster.

    23. Re:Someone needs to check. by ralphdaugherty · · Score: 1

      I would say from the touchy responses that it is apparently politically incorrect to bring up homo at all.

    24. Re:Someone needs to check. by Scarletdown · · Score: 1

      Just remember though, the size of a nerd's penis is directly proportional to the size of his Slashdot epeen...er...user i.d. number.

      --
      This space unintentionally left blank.
    25. Re:Someone needs to check. by Scarletdown · · Score: 2

      Just imagine all the Beavis and Butthead type huh-huh-huhs had this article been about Homo Erectus, and even more so had it been about Homo Erectus remains being found near Lake Titicaca, and somehow involving a big chunk of interplanetary material that got ejected to Earth from Uranus.

      --
      This space unintentionally left blank.
    26. Re:Someone needs to check. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Die, Faggot!

    27. Re:Someone needs to check. by arth1 · · Score: 2

      So, all that it really says is that at least one Neanderthal engaged in bestiality. Given the number of generations since then, it's not surprising that most of the world can trace one of the myriad of ancestries also to that incident.

      What is surprising is that it hasn't spread back to Africa.

      There could, perhaps, be a gene that suppresses that marker, e.g. by causing infertility when encountered, while at the same time increasing the chance of survival in Africa? Something like sickle cell anemia or lactose intolerance, which have beneficial effects in Africa but detrimental effects in colder climates? I have no idea, but it seems strange that it wouldn't spread back, given how man sows his oats pretty much anywhere there's a willing receptacle, and often where it's unwilling too.

    28. Re:Someone needs to check. by rworne · · Score: 1

      You make me regret lurking for nearly a year before signing up here...

      --
      I tried every decent and legal way I could think of to resolve the issue w/the business before I rented the chicken suit
    29. Re:Someone needs to check. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A six digit UID calling people newbs? Get fucked kid, Reddits more your speed.

    30. Re:Someone needs to check. by Chrisq · · Score: 1

      I thought it was "homo sapiens and homo neanderthalensis miscegenated and the latter genes still exist in humans" in January.

      Now it's "if you aren't 100% African, you're part Neanderthal."

      Can someone please explain how. I mean they are both homos right?

    31. Re:Someone needs to check. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With my zero digit UID, I can't read anything.

      I'm so lonely...

      --
      A. Coward

    32. Re:Someone needs to check. by osu-neko · · Score: 1

      So, all that it really says is that at least one Neanderthal engaged in bestiality.

      Um, no. At least one non-human would need to be involved for that, so two members of the genus Homo would not qualify, and certainly not two members of the same species, even if they are different subspecies (H. sapiens neanderthalensis vs. H. sapiens sapiens -- there is not universal agreement on classification of neanderthals as a subspecies of H. sapiens, true, but evidence of successful, fertile interbreeding, as this is, seriously degrades the already weak argument that they shouldn't be).

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
    33. Re:Someone needs to check. by The+Creator · · Score: 1

      Speaking as a gay man, your joke sucks like your mom, messy and aimless.

      Ok, I'm going to have to call bullshit on one or the other!

      --

      FRA: STFU GTFO
    34. Re:Someone needs to check. by mcvos · · Score: 1

      Is it politically correct these days to use the phrase "Homo" in front of any words?

      Why? Are the kin of other hominids likely to feel themselves excluded and discriminated against?

    35. Re:Someone needs to check. by Methuseus · · Score: 1

      With a UID that low I can almost believe your user name too.

      --
      Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, though I'm not yet sure about the universe. - A Einstein
    36. Re:Someone needs to check. by Methuseus · · Score: 1

      I lurked since they were giving out 4 digit IDs, and look where I am now.

      --
      Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, though I'm not yet sure about the universe. - A Einstein
    37. Re:Someone needs to check. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We need a -1 stupid mod. It's not bestiality; these were practically the same species, and capable of interbreeding and producing reproductively-successful children. And lactose intolerance doesn't increase survival in Africa; adult lactose tolerance just was so beneficial during the unusually cold winters for a time in Europe that vast numbers of people who didn't have the mutation died of starvation. It was not a significant predictor of survival in the rest of the world, so the people without it didn't die.

    38. Re:Someone needs to check. by Inconexo · · Score: 1

      And that question seemed like an acknowledge.

    39. Re:Someone needs to check. by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      This is going to make white supremacists' heads explode :D

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    40. Re:Someone needs to check. by scamper_22 · · Score: 1

      You're 30 UIDs too high to continue that thread :P

    41. Re:Someone needs to check. by spedrosa · · Score: 1

      Me neither.

    42. Re:Someone needs to check. by Khyber · · Score: 1

      You don't know straight men work in gay porn, and vice-versa?

      That's like the first piece of sex trivia you should know about.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    43. Re:Someone needs to check. by marcosdumay · · Score: 1

      It was strongly suspected, but not known.

    44. Re:Someone needs to check. by RoboRay · · Score: 1

      So, all that it really says is that at least one Neanderthal engaged in bestiality.

      Um, no. At least one non-human would need to be involved for that, so two members of the genus Homo would not qualify, and certainly not two members of the same species, even if they are different subspecies.

      Rishathra?

    45. Re:Someone needs to check. by IonOtter · · Score: 1

      Gosh-darn it, Grandpa! Your posts default to 5 and don't need to be modded up. Give the kids a chance!

      --
      [End Of Line]
    46. Re:Someone needs to check. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now that's just funny. Thanks for the smile this morning.....

    47. Re:Someone needs to check. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Has Scientist link the Genes of serial killers with the Genes of Neanderthal.

    48. Re:Someone needs to check. by jc42 · · Score: 1

      Well then, it's a good thing that literacy isn't a prerequisite to posting here.

      --
      Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
    49. Re:Someone needs to check. by Chris+Johnson · · Score: 1

      Who're you calling a youngster? XD

    50. Re:Someone needs to check. by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 1

      You got me grandpa. Now watch one of the double digits is going to come stumbling out of their grave.

    51. Re:Someone needs to check. by jc42 · · Score: 1

      It was strongly suspected, but not known.

      Yup. The previous study, by Svante PÃÃbo and friends, was statistical in nature. They showed a significant probability that a collection of gene variants that are found in several tested non-African populations, but not in any of the tested African populations, are of Neandert(h)al origin.

      This one seems to be more definitive (though I haven't seen any numbers on the sizes of their test populations). It's about a gene variant that was already known to exist in "all" (whatever that means ;-) non-African human populations, but not in any (tested) African population. It was considered to have originated in an unknown archaic human population. The gene variant turns out to be in the recently-published Neandertal genome. So it almost certainly originated in either the Neandertal or the non-African human population, and spread to the other by interbreeding. The researchers point out that their study didn't involve any work with Neandertal remains, so there's no chance of contamination of samples.

      There is, of course, a slight possibility that the same mutation could appear in two populations independently. But the probability of this is so low that it can be safely dismissed.

      The mutation could have also been from a common ancestor to H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis, and died out in all African populations, but the chance of that is also miniscule. The geneticists have been telling us for some time that most human genetic variation is within Africa, with the non-African populations being a minor branch that colonized the rest of the world. For a gene variant to die out in all the African branches, but not the single branch that colonized Eurasia and the America (and Polynesia), is simply so improbable as to be dismissed out of hand.

      So now we'll have to revise all the textbooks to replace "Homo neanderthalensis" with "Homo sapiens neanderthalensis". But it shouldn't be any harder than it was to modify the textbooks to no longer list Pluto as a planet. Life can be uncertain for textbook makers. ;-)

      --
      Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
    52. Re:Someone needs to check. by jc42 · · Score: 1

      BTW how do you pronounce GLBT anyway.

      It's pronounced like "gulped".

      --
      Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
    53. Re:Someone needs to check. by jc42 · · Score: 1

      Now it's "if you aren't 100% African, you're part Neanderthal."

      Can someone please explain how. I mean they are both homos right?

      Nah, homos usually don't produce very many offspring; it's the Homos that do that. ;-)

      Typographical jokes aside, the explanation is fairly straightforward. Both this paper and the one from a few months back included DNA from some widely-separated non-African populations, including such isolated areas as New Guinea. They also used data from the past few years' analyses of fossil Neanderthal DNA. They've produced a list of gene variants (mutations) that were found in Neanderthal and non-African modern DNA, but aren't found in any (tested) African populations.

      It's possible, of course, that the same mutation will appear in different populations. It's also possible that a gene variant will die out in all populations. But as the numbers increase, the probability of what's been found in these various Homo populations rapidly approaches zero. For Homo sapiens and H. Neanderthalensis to be still classified as separate species requires many cases of either an independent identical mutation, or a gene variant shared by all our ancestors that died out in all the African populations but survived in all non-African species and also in at least a few Neanderthal populations.

      The probability is now so low that nobody sensible would seriously consider it. The Neanderthals are now firmly in the Homo sapiens species.

      There will, of course, be further independent tests of this reclassification. Challenging such "accepted" things as facts is a popular game among scientists. DNA research continues, especially in humans and our close relatives, and we can expect many more tests of our Neanderthal ancestry to appear as spinoffs of other research. But unless someone comes up with firm evidence to the contrary, anyone with non-African ancestry should now assume that they're part Neanderthal. The most likely outcome of further tests is detailed information making the history clearer.

      We can expect at least a little bit of fun about this coming from comedians of African ancestry. Of course, most American blacks also have European ancestry, so they're part Neanderthal, too. But we can hope this won't discourage them from making lots of jokes about it.

      --
      Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
    54. Re:Someone needs to check. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The song was right on....
      "I'm a Neanderthal Man. You're a Neanderthal Girl.
      Let's make Neanderthal love in this Neanderthal world."

      Edward
      Lion of Yelm

    55. Re:Someone needs to check. by Chrisq · · Score: 1

      whoosh...

    56. Re:Someone needs to check. by The+Creator · · Score: 1

      Well in that case: Vid or it didn't happen!

      --

      FRA: STFU GTFO
    57. Re:Someone needs to check. by Khyber · · Score: 1

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay-for-pay

      Most 'solo' stars are straight men.

      --
      Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
    58. Re:Someone needs to check. by RockDoctor · · Score: 1

      Why are you going to have to call bullshit on one or the other? Do you mean to say that you can't envisage perfectly credible scenarios where he is gay (truly gay), and knows the other's mother, the fact of her motherhood, and the quality of her oral sex? If you can't ... it says more to the limitations of your bringing up (in Victorian times, judging from the 4-digit UID) than it does to the possibilities.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  2. In other words by Scareduck · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The Neanderthals didn't become extinct so much as they merged with H. sapiens.

    --

    Dog is my co-pilot.

    1. Re:In other words by Beelzebud · · Score: 1, Troll

      So creationists have been arguing that evolution is true, and that we're the descendents of Neanderthals? Oh no, that's not it at all. You're "predicting" that Neanderthals were just like we are, and that "sub-humans" could never have been created. GTFO

    2. Re:In other words by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, that's a creationist site summarizing what we'd already learned at that point about Homo neanderthalensis, and then throwing in some nonsense about "evolutionary bias" and some other nonsense. They made no predictions at all, and predicting that in 2003 wouldn't have been much of an accomplishment anyways.

      The page looks like one of those "scientific consensus was wrong at some point, therefore the Bible is the way to go" arguments they love so much.

    3. Re:In other words by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      No, they made believe that H. neadertals were just a race of H. sapiens, and certainly didn't believe that anyone before H. sapiens ever left Africa. Actually, I suspect almost none of them even believe that humans came from Africa at all.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:In other words by mldi · · Score: 2

      Additionally, that page tried claiming that scientists dated neanderthals "post-flood". So.... a few thousand years? Really? How can anybody take that seriously?

      To GP: And if you're using a compilation of books written by man, whose compilation itself was chosen by man over a thousand years later... all of which was written from the perspectives of people from a very, very, very limited geographic region as a basis for these outlandish claims (including a global flood) then you're a bigger fool than you even know. Take it for what it is and leave the rest out.

      --
      If you aren't suspicious of your government's actions, you aren't doing your job as a responsible citizen.
    5. Re:In other words by JosKarith · · Score: 2

      Sub humans have been created - we call them Creationists...

      --
      'Don't worry' said the trees when they saw the axe coming, 'The handle is one of us.'
    6. Re:In other words by CapuchinSeven · · Score: 1

      The page looks like one of those "scientific consensus was wrong at some point, therefore the Bible is the way to go" arguments they love so much.

      Brilliant isn't it? They basically show how scientists, however strongly they might believe something, are willing to change their views when evidence is given, unlike the religious fruit loops that right garbage like that. The last part made me laugh out loud, "This emerging view depicts Neandertals as having a capacity for creative, flexible behavior somewhat like that of modern people’. Thus, the evidence increasingly supports the biblical position".

    7. Re:In other words by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Neanderthals didn't become extinct so much as they merged with H. sapiens.

      More like 'we' F-ed their brains out, one Neanderthal broad at a time.

  3. Won't quiet the racists by TWX · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Somehow I doubt that telling those white supremacists that they're the ones descended from Neanderthals and that the Africans are the only group lacking Neanderthal DNA would do anything to change their perspectives.

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:Won't quiet the racists by drinkypoo · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      It is pretty awesome though to know scientifically that Africans are the only ones whose ancestors didn't mate with genetically "inferior" stock... or at least, they didn't have any children that lived.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Won't quiet the racists by ShakaUVM · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >>explain to me why we need that much overlap? i understand the different roles that each branch fills.. but there is zero reason why each of them can't use the same data center.

      How do you know Neanderthals were genetically inferior?

    3. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would it? If you believe one race is genetically superior to another, why would hearing that there's a specific genetic difference attributable to a different race change that? It's obvious to me the white supremacist would then claim we got the best of both worlds -- Neanderthal physical toughness with white/Aryan/whatever intelligence, or something like that.

      In fact, it would appear you're being racist, in your implication that the Neanderthal race is inherently worse than other races... on the basis of what, cranial volume of a few fossils? Look into all the equally "scientific" rubbish used to justify subjugation of non-whites back in the 19th century, you'd fit right in! When you can show me the average Neanderthal man's score on an IQ test is below 100, I'll be happy to agree Neanderthals are an inferior race; until then its so much "we're the best thing ever" arrogance with just enough scientific trappings to make it acceptable.

    4. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because I'm too lazy to look it up, explain to me what part of "whose ancestors left Africa about 400,000 to 800,000 years ago" means they're not from Africa?

    5. Re:Won't quiet the racists by a+whoabot · · Score: 1

      Why would you ever suppose that it would?

    6. Re:Won't quiet the racists by countertrolling · · Score: 1

      How do you know Neanderthals were genetically inferior?

      Maybe because there's not too many of them around anymore. Or maybe they were just completely assimilated

      --
      For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
    7. Re:Won't quiet the racists by krotkruton · · Score: 1

      In fact, it would appear you're being racist, in your implication that the Neanderthal race is inherently worse than other races... on the basis of what, cranial volume of a few fossils?

      On the basis that they're extinct.

    8. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BTW: Every black run area I know is a dump and rife with corruption. But the truth is not politically correct, too bad.

      I think it is more of a tropical thing. Toxoplasmosis and other like infections do some weird things to brain chemistry and that could give the appearance of inferior races. The problem is that AFAIK it is incurable. It's the tropics that make people lazy and it may not only be the heat.

    9. Re:Won't quiet the racists by boristhespider · · Score: 1

      "In fact, it would appear you're being racist, in your implication that the Neanderthal race is inherently worse than other races... on the basis of what, cranial volume of a few fossils?"

      Where did you get *that* from? Yes, plenty of people have done that (though technically they're not being racist; Neanderthals are a separate species to us, and don't try and pretend different species can't interbreed because they can and any definition of "species" that works will yield separate "species" that do so - if you don't believe me, get a fucking education) but can you point out where TWX did that? Be serious, he didn't. You're just taking an excuse to jump on an agenda and setting up something that isn't even a strawman in the process.

      Seriously, if you're gonna debate at least fucking do it properly. He said "Somehow I doubt that telling those white supremacists that they're the ones descended from Neanderthals and that the Africans are the only group lacking Neanderthal DNA would do anything to change their perspectives."

      Firstly, it's obvious to me that he's joking, and I'm not even American and don't have so many fucking white supremacists in my country. Secondly, he's simply making a joke about white supremacists having to acknowledge that *they're* the ones descended from Neanderthals rather than some mythical pure-blood Homo Sapiens line, and never doing so.

      What's the problem? Fuck all, except your own idiotic prejudices.

    10. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Neanderthals actually had larger brains than humans did so it is doubtful they were intellectually inferior. More likely they were substantially intellectually superior in some areas but inferior in others.

    11. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it's interesting to consider the fact that it might be used as evidence for actual species level genetic differences between "whites" and "blacks". You know, if ignorant racists are capable of understanding things like genetics.

    12. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Canazza · · Score: 2, Insightful

      you *have* watched Olympic track and field right?

      --
      It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
    13. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Roachie · · Score: 2, Informative

      Seems like there is a bunch of them, no?

      --
      This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
    14. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Maybe because there's not too many of them around anymore.

      You're missing the point, Mac. Most of the human race is partly of Neanderthal stock. Ipso facto, there's plenty of us still around.

      --
      Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
      You cannot wash away blood with blood
    15. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Paracelcus · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "Inferior" Homo Neanderthalensis lived as a distinct group for half a million years, surviving the toughest conditions imaginable with very limited technology, I's say that the modern hiker, who dies of exposure/starvation in 40F weather within 200 yards of a road is inferior! Could you live a night wrapped in several animal hides, probably without a fire, in ice age weather -70F?

      --
      I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
    16. Re:Won't quiet the racists by NoNonAlphaCharsHere · · Score: 4, Funny

      Or maybe they were just completely assimilated

      Yes. Many of them (Neanderthals) are in Congress, even as we speak.

    17. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Consider the big interspecies battle of the Pleistocene. It was Homo v. Panthera. Big cats were preying on hominids until hominids developed weapons and language to communicate and operate in large groups until pantherines were extirpated from areas of hominid settlement which allowed for agriculture. With sapiens as a less robust animal than neanderthalis, the need for collectivism eventually was understood. It's rather difficult to farm when every is being eaten by a cave lion Atrox or otherwise. Perhaps Neanderthal Man was too much of an individualist to compete.

    18. Re:Won't quiet the racists by AK+Marc · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's irrelevant. "Genetically inferior" has no meaning. Are ants inferior? If so, why are there so many of them and so few of us? Instead, we assert our current existence to be the pinnacle, and rate other creatures on a scale of how close they are to us. Not to mention that there are other factors that could have resulted in one species thriving while the other went extinct that was irrelevant to "genetic superiority" and instead adaptability or disease resistance or such. Perhaps the "genetically inferior" were less aggressive, so they were killed off, despite the fact they were smarter and stronger or whatever trait you associate with "genetic superiority."

      Instead of proclaiming who is better or worse with subjective labels, why not define the underlaying definitions in your assumptions and address those specifically?

    19. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was talking various cities/towns in the States as well.

    20. Re:Won't quiet the racists by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Well, thirty thousand years ago there was pronounced differences between Neandertal and modern H. sapiens toolkits. If you go back about 100,000 years where, for instance, Neandertals and modern-looking humans lived in close proximity in the Levant, the striking thing is that the toolkits were very similar.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    21. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your doubt is reasonable... one could argue:
      homo neanderthalensis was known for its superior hunting capabilities. Regarding physical and cognitive capabilities -- you probably wouldn't have a chance without your modern time rifle.

      On the other side homo sapiens has superior endurance -- the feet are pure evolutionary magic (When _not_ put into shoes. Your body didn't evolve a complex part with 20+ bones by accident, stupid!), less body mass is also a plus in warmer regions. And btw. endurance hunting also is less risky than direct attacking. [you can read about the fabulous feet in 'Born to run' -- interesting sources provided therein...]

      There are groups on that planet who argue that homo sapiens is only the second most intelligent species.
      Homo neanderthalensis atop.
      So, if one believes in that too, there might be a lot of retarded racist who could claim supremacy on basis of a few leftovers from mating with a really brainy species.

      Sadly we can't ask them for their opinion. So that might as well be pure speculation *muahahaha*

    22. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Un+pobre+guey · · Score: 1

      White people are living proof that Africans fucked Neanderthals.

      Sorry, couldn't help it. That was a silver platter if ever I saw one. I'm "white," BTW, whatever that means.

    23. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "In fact, it would appear you're being racist, in your implication that the Neanderthal race is inherently worse than other races... on the basis of what, cranial volume of a few fossils?"

      Where did you get *that* from?

      His neanderthal girlfriend.

    24. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Jimbookis · · Score: 1

      Somehow I doubt that telling those white supremacists that they're the ones descended from Neanderthals and that the Africans are the only group lacking Neanderthal DNA would do anything to change their perspectives.

      Well, it explains the white supremacists jutting eyebrows, sloping foreheads and rather dimwitted world view. Maybe they should be called NeoNeanderthals.

    25. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Neanderthals are extinct. They were evolution's losers. QED.

    26. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Servaas · · Score: 1

      White people are living proof that Africans fucked Neanderthals.

      Rihanna in my bed or it didn't happen!

    27. Re:Won't quiet the racists by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      you're an idiot... they had significantly larger amounts of muscle mass which correlates to brain size due to the increased need for muscle control.

      Neanderthal had no significant culture until they encountered humans and did not change their social behaviors much at all in their entire existence.... both point to low abstract intelligence.... also known as the metric that humans use to measure what is colloquially considered intelligence.

    28. Re:Won't quiet the racists by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      they were not individualists, but they did live in small (30 person) clans. Their large muscle mass required a high protein diet so they had to hunt to survive.... literally.

    29. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Bacon+Bits · · Score: 3, Informative

      Indeed, cross-breeding generally results in the deficits in each species diminishing and the strengths aggregating. It's a phenomenon known as heterosis or hybrid vigor. The explanation is simple: dominant genes tend to be those which benefit the species (natural selection will tend to eliminate dominant genes which retard the species). Mating with an organism that contains a vast number of completely different genes which gives you a whole new set of dominant genes. Gene's that you didn't have to mutate in your own ancestral lines It's a genetic gold mine.

      --
      The road to tyranny has always been paved with claims of necessity.
    30. Re:Won't quiet the racists by ShakaUVM · · Score: 3

      >>Neanderthals are extinct. They were evolution's losers. QED.

      No.

      The whole point of this article is that they're still around. And not only are they still around, but they are still around in all the countries that are currently "winning" the global game of Civilization

      Since Neanderthals left Africa first, and are currently still around in the Civs that have been teching the fastest, one could make the argument that their genes are superior.

    31. Re:Won't quiet the racists by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      That inferior Homo neanderthalensis also evolved to live during a specific climatic period with specific fauna and as specific group sizes. those factors changed and they were very easily overcome by a much more flexible Homo sapiens sapiens.

      Homo sapiens sapiens got the important genetic adaptations to survive in the region from Homo neanderthalensis inter breading, after that there was little that Humans could not do. All they needed was a few more layers of clothing than H. neanderthalensis.

    32. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      racism works two ways.

    33. Re:Won't quiet the racists by grahamd0 · · Score: 1

      In fact, it would appear you're being racist, in your implication that the Neanderthal race is inherently worse than other races... on the basis of what, cranial volume of a few fossils?

      On the basis that they're extinct.

      If TFA is correct then neanderthals live on in all of us who are not of pure sub-Saharan African descent.

    34. Re:Won't quiet the racists by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      H. neanderthalensis evolved from H. erectus which left Africa 400 to 800 thousand years ago and spread from Europe to Asia and even some of the Indonesian islands. H. neanderthalensis is thus, descended from a species that left Africa, but is not FROM Africa.

    35. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Firstly, it's obvious to me that he's joking, and I'm not even American and don't have so many fucking white supremacists in my country.

      Don't have a fucking clue what country you're from, don't care. It's not obvious he's joking, since I was far from the only one to give a serious response -- maybe you're even wrong? Maybe he was joking, and it's not obvious. In any case, it wasn't very funny -- saying obvious things usually isn't. (e.g. "Somehow I doubt that telling Theo de Raadt 'Netcraft confirms BSD is dying.' will do anything to change his perspective." *rimshot*)

      Secondly, he's simply making a joke about white supremacists having to acknowledge that *they're* the ones descended from Neanderthals rather than some mythical pure-blood Homo Sapiens line, and never doing so.

      Except that to my knowledge most white supremacist trash is not about "some mythical pure-blood Homo Sapiens line" like the Nazis cooked up, but relies principally on historical arguments, conflating the success of European (and particularly English) culture with European race to claim empirical support that whites are better than blacks, and if they indulge in genetic explanations at all, they merely extrapolate a supposed relative evolutionary progress of the races from those historical arguments.

      What's the problem? Fuck all, except your own idiotic prejudices.

      Are you referring to my choosing sides in the unsettled taxonomy point of whether Neanderthal man is Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis? (and similarly for the other archaic Homo sapiens varieties...) If so, you seem equally "prejudiced" in dogmatically asserting the opposite view, when in reality there's no consensus.

      Or prejudiced against jokes?

      If neither of those, perhaps you could show where I'm being prejudiced -- I don't really see how that term applies to any of your other criticisms.

    36. Re:Won't quiet the racists by at_slashdot · · Score: 1

      You do know that Neanderthals had bigger brains? Hardly a problem for supremacists (not that they needed a rational argument)

      --
      "It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore
    37. Re:Won't quiet the racists by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 2

      There is plenty of evidence that we are cognitively superior to Neanderthal. Brain size is not equal to intelligence. the size of a brain is proportional to the physical size of an animal. What is related to intelligence is the density of the cerebral cortex. Since we can not measure the cerebral cortex of Neanderthal, we have to look at archaeological evidence for abstract thinking (culture, society, and technology). In all three cases, Neanderthal was pretty much static until they encountered modern humans. given these facts, there is sufficient evidence to conclude Neanderthal was not as bright as Homo sapiens.

    38. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 2

      It is you who are missing the fact - we were found to contain some of their genes - this is not the same as being them. We lack many of their distinctive features, meaning that they have in fact lost evolutionary war and are extinct. We are still here.

    39. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Comrade+Ogilvy · · Score: 1

      Maybe because there's not too many of them around anymore.

      You're missing the point, Mac. Most of the human race is partly of Neanderthal stock. Ipso facto, there's plenty of us still around.

      True. But they lost most of their turf, geographic and genetic to newcomers.

      One can argue that birds are dinosaurs that are doing well today. But the other side of the coin is that dinosaurs were amazingly diverse in the past, and only held on in a tiny, tiny number of niches.

      That there was a massive decline for the neanderthals and the dinosaurs would be undeniable.

    40. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Actually, from genetic point of view, there is a clear system of superiority and inferiority. Superior ones have a bright future as they are adapting to ever changing environment successfully. Failures are dying out because of their failures to adapt, and those in between hang in there. Human action has been a very powerful factor to split those superior to those inferior - for example big mammals like wolves have been all but hunted to extinction in Europe as humans progressed. At the same time, flies, seagulls and several other species adapted to human expansion and rode on the coattails becoming very successful.

      From evolutionary point of view humans are pretty well off, but far from superior. Cockroaches and flies, as well as many kinds of bacteria are clearly in a better position. We are probably best or at least among very top of mammals though.

    41. Re:Won't quiet the racists by layer3switch · · Score: 1

      this finding was in X chromosome, not mitochondria. so this could have easily been the other way around (neanderthal fucking sapien). logically i do not think (i ain't no expert in this field) even a strongest male sapien could have overpowered a young female neanderthal. only way i could see this plausible (again, i am no expert in this field), an intercourse through multiple male co-operative dominance (simply put, a gang rape). even then, i doubt, as an healthy neanderthal can overpower a strongest h. sapien arm wrestler. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELavgk1_9L4

      Now, there is another vector which i do not want to entertain even as a thought, a band of female Amazonian like Neanderthals running about Middle East raping Homo Spiens.

      --
      "Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
    42. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Somehow I doubt that telling those white supremacists that they're the ones descended from Neanderthals and that the Africans are the only group lacking Neanderthal DNA would do anything to change their perspectives.

      You make it sound like Neanderthals were intellectually inferior to the other sub-species at the time. What are you basing this off of? Pop culture?

    43. Re:Won't quiet the racists by budgenator · · Score: 1

      We are probably not either Neanderthal nor original Modern man. so which we are we talking about?

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    44. Re:Won't quiet the racists by dave420 · · Score: 1

      But then you have to concede that we lack many of the distinctive features of all our other ancestors, meaning all our ancestors are extinct, meaning we don't exist. Or something. I'm wasted.

    45. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Weaselmancer · · Score: 1

      And don't forget those sea cucumbers that live near volcanic vents! They can survive in boiling sulfurous water. We could never do that, so clearly they are superior.

      Ok kidding aside. We simply don't have that skillset anymore - we don't need it. But we are smart enough to make an aluminum bag and land it on the moon. Soon as we find a Neanderthal skeleton on the moon I'll be convinced of their superiority.

      --
      Weaselmancer
      rediculous.
    46. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Somehow I doubt that telling those white supremacists that they're the ones descended from Neanderthals and that the Africans are the only group lacking Neanderthal DNA would do anything to change their perspectives.

      so the racists are white, or is it the Neanderthals are supremacists?

    47. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most of the white supremacists are Christian, and they'll laugh at the idea. Everyone knows the world is only a few thousand years old.

    48. Re:Won't quiet the racists by budgenator · · Score: 0

      Gorillas have an IQ of 85, how hard can it be to add another 15 points to that? For that matter, sub-Saharan Africans tend to score around 85 on IQ tests too; so we really can't be sure an IQ test actually measures Intelligence.

      --
      Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
    49. Re:Won't quiet the racists by grouchomarxist · · Score: 1

      The racists will just claim that the Neanderthal DNA makes them superior.

    50. Re:Won't quiet the racists by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      I disagree with your premise. Wolves aren't genetically inferior because humans moved into their area and exterminated them. That's an environmental issue that wasn't driven by genetics at all.

    51. Re:Won't quiet the racists by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Could you live a night wrapped in several animal hides, probably without a fire, in ice age weather -70F?

      How many animal hides? At my current weight, or my former level of blubber?

      I put inferior in quotation marks for a reason...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    52. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Except that they're not around - they're extinct. The rules for declaring species extinct are very well honed and clear, and neanderthals are in fact extinct.

      Just because we share some genes with them, doesn't mean that we are them. These genes could have gotten into the pool via many means, from interbreeding to simply having those genes as a part of shared pool. Else you could claim that we are in fact elephants, or dolphins, or even sharks because we share so much of our genome with them as well.

      As far as species are concerned, neanderthals are extinct. There is absolutely no room for argument for this fact. Various types of homo sapiens are the only species of humans currently known to be in existence.

    53. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Elephants have a much larger brain then humans. Thing with brain is, size isn't what is important. It's the surface of the brain gray matter and what functions it's allocated for that counts. And in these aspects, homo sapiens absolutely crushed the opposition.

    54. Re:Won't quiet the racists by larry+bagina · · Score: 1

      licking food stamps causes toxoplasmosis

      --
      Do you even lift?

      These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    55. Re:Won't quiet the racists by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 3, Funny

      >>explain to me why we need that much overlap? i understand the different roles that each branch fills.. but there is zero reason why each of them can't use the same data center.

      How do you know Neanderthals were genetically inferior?

      Just look at their cave paintings - there were always quoting the last story and forgetting to see if their proper clipboard got pasted.

      --
      My God, it's Full of Source!
      OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
    56. Re:Won't quiet the racists by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      Somehow I doubt that telling those white supremacists that they're the ones descended from Neanderthals and that the Africans are the only group lacking Neanderthal DNA would do anything to change their perspectives.

      What do you mean, "change perspectives"? Clearly our people are most direct descendants of a superior Neanderthal people, and hence should be the master race. Neanderthal power! ~

    57. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Draek · · Score: 3, Funny

      The beauty of being an homo sapiens is that I don't need to.

      --
      No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
    58. Re:Won't quiet the racists by bakes · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yes, and I've watched the Olympic swimming too.

      --
      Ho! Haha! Guard! Turn! Parry! Dodge! Spin! Ha! Thrust!
    59. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If anything, it would go along with the idea that blacks are genetically inferior mentally. The Neanderthals were probably smarter than us.

    60. Re:Won't quiet the racists by NeoMorphy · · Score: 0

      Maybe Homo Sapiens were breeding like rabbits, while the Neanderthals were disciplined. Except for the ones chasing after the "hot to trot" Homo Sapiens women!

      Does that mean that women that have 10+ kids with multiple fathers are genetically superior to women who know how to use birth control? And might even know the name of the men they have sex with?

      10,000 years from now, Idiocracy will be real and people will refer to the smart people as being genetically inferior because they were wiped out.

    61. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But the hybrid isn't always better, only sometimes. Sometimes it is worse. And the vigor enjoyed by the good hybrid is usually short-lived.

    62. Re:Won't quiet the racists by danlip · · Score: 1

      You can't really separate genetic fitness from the environment, and there really isn't isn't such a thing as superior or inferior genetics. Humans wiped out large predators where ever they went, so being a large predator in the era of humans is a genetically inferior trait, and in that sense wolves are genetically inferior. Being covered in thick fur might be a generically superior trait during an ice age, and it becomes a genetically inferior trait when the earth warms. It's not linear and there is no endpoint or pinnacle. Humans have the unique ability to adapt using ideas rather than genetics, this probably means we will survive just about anything and recover from any ecological disaster, which is one superior trait that probably trumps most environmental factors, but it doesn't make us "more evolved".

    63. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but did they want snu snu?

    64. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      nahh "I may be part neanderthal but at least I'm not African."
      If you've never heard of it look up "christian identity"

      It really is best to ignore dummies, like anyone who worries about their caveman heritage.

    65. Re:Won't quiet the racists by NeoMorphy · · Score: 1

      Now, there is another vector which I do not want to entertain even as a thought, a band of female Amazonian like Neanderthals running about Middle East raping Homo Sapiens.

      I'm sure there were plenty of Homo Sapiens who fantasized about that!

    66. Re:Won't quiet the racists by mldi · · Score: 1

      Aren't we mixing up the terms "genetically inferior" and "less evolved"? There is such a thing as superior genetics... able to fight off disease better, reproduce better, etc. But that means nothing in natural selection depending on your environment (well, they're usually positive things, but you get the idea). Being a large predator in an era of humans doesn't mean inferior genetics. It means from an evolutionary standpoint, you're at a less desirable position because of environment... but the wolves could still have exceptional genetics regardless. There are many contributing factors to the role of natural selection, and genetics is only one of them.

      --
      If you aren't suspicious of your government's actions, you aren't doing your job as a responsible citizen.
    67. Re:Won't quiet the racists by mldi · · Score: 1

      Maybe Homo Sapiens were breeding like rabbits, while the Neanderthals were disciplined. Except for the ones chasing after the "hot to trot" Homo Sapiens women!

      Does that mean that women that have 10+ kids with multiple fathers are genetically superior to women who know how to use birth control? And might even know the name of the men they have sex with?

      10,000 years from now, Idiocracy will be real and people will refer to the smart people as being genetically inferior because they were wiped out.

      Genetically inferior, no. Evolutionarily (is that a word?) inferior, yes. Smart doesn't necessarily win in natural selection.

      --
      If you aren't suspicious of your government's actions, you aren't doing your job as a responsible citizen.
    68. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Roachie · · Score: 1

      Uh, you're not supposed to EAT food stamps, are you? Have I been doing it all wrong?

      --
      This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
    69. Re:Won't quiet the racists by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      success means having descendants that survive. your argument fails.

    70. Re:Won't quiet the racists by danlip · · Score: 1

      what criteria are you using to determine "exceptional" or "superior" or "more evolved"?

    71. Re:Won't quiet the racists by layer3switch · · Score: 1

      past tense? ;)

      --
      "Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
    72. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Except that we are homo sapiens? What are you talking about?

    73. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To clarify (I didn't bother before, because of the obvious impossibility either way) I'm not sure a standard IQ test is best, but whatever test would have to be applied to Neanderthals raised from birth in a human society to minimize cultural, etc. biases of the test.

    74. Re:Won't quiet the racists by chanchao · · Score: 0

      It is you who are missing the fact - we were found to contain some of their genes - this is not the same as being them.

      LOL! Having their genes is EXACTLY the same as 'being them', to whatever percentage is in your genes. It may just mean there were more 'moderns' and less Neanderthals.

      How different did they really look, and how significant was that difference when counted across thousands of years, and looking at some of the current differences between peoples from various parts of the world, all within the same species.

    75. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      You are wasted indeed. Evolution is a tree growing up. Ancestors rarely survive the coming of next phase of evolution. We evolved past our ancestors, then made them and other species that branched out from them extinct by being better at competing for resources.

      Sometimes there are multiple branches, such as suspected homo erectus spawning several evolutionary branches, most of which ended up extinct. Homo sapiens is somewhat strange in the modern evolutionary science because there are actually no known other species of our genus. This is most likely because we were extremely efficient in competing with various other branches of homo genus for resources, making all other members of genus extinct.

    76. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      I don't know what criteria you want to use, but nature uses SURVIVAL as the only criteria.

    77. Re:Won't quiet the racists by mldi · · Score: 1

      I didn't say "more evolved", because there is no such thing per se. My whole point was that evolution and genetics are not the same thing. I know what you were saying, though.

      --
      If you aren't suspicious of your government's actions, you aren't doing your job as a responsible citizen.
    78. Re:Won't quiet the racists by mswhippingboy · · Score: 1

      H. neanderthalensis is thus, descended from a species that left Africa, but is not FROM Africa.

      This is questionable. A paper published in 2010 on a draft sequence of Neanderthal genome would suggest that the source population of non-African modern humans were already more closely related to Neanderthals than other Africans were, due to ancient genetic divisions within Africa

      We show that Neandertals shared more genetic variants with present-day humans in Eurasia than with present-day humans in sub-Saharan Africa, suggesting that gene flow from Neandertals into the ancestors of non-Africans occurred before the divergence of Eurasian groups from each other.

      http://www.sciencemag.org/content/328/5979/710

      --
      Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
    79. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Correct, and nothing in the OP prooves that any of neanderthal descendants are alive today. It suggests that there was interbreeding based on a single genealogical pattern. Other explanations that easily cover it would be shared parts of genome through a common ancestor.

      Considering that the whole issue of "did we or did we not interbreed with neanderthals" has been debated for DECADES now, this evidence is just a small additional piece in a very large puzzle. The biggest problem being that we are likely still missing major links in our ancestry. There are MAJOR arguments against interbreeding theory, not only on the genome, but on the visible trait level.

    80. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, they and the Asian supremacists will just say that this is proof that they are the more highly evolved hybrid species than the Africans.

    81. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 2

      Then you are a shark, as you share a whole lot of genes with one. Get a laser pointer and be awesome.

    82. Re:Won't quiet the racists by ShakaUVM · · Score: 1

      >>Except that they're not around - they're extinct. The rules for declaring species extinct are very well honed and clear, and neanderthals are in fact extinct.

      Evolution deals with survival of genotype, not phenotype.

      If they crossbred with hoomans (as they were called back then) and their genes are present in the majority of the population of the dominant species, then they're winners.

    83. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 2

      Except that there is no firm evidence to suggest what you're saying. We just know that certain aspect of our genome is shared. In this regard, hte genome could have been shared by a vast array of means, from crossbreeding, which is being suggested in the OP, to the far more likely shared ancestry (which is not yet found and has been searched for for decades as of writing this).

      If you claim that in spite of above, any species that shares genome that is present in any successful modern species, then by your rules, there simply are almost no failures. A vast majority of our gene pool is shared amongst mammals. A very large is shared across of all multi cellular species of the planet. This has to do with the fact that we're all amino-acid protein based life forms, and our basic cellular design is very similar across all species that utilize a burning process of O2 and glucose as primary means of energy generation.

    84. Re:Won't quiet the racists by a+whoabot · · Score: 1

      Birds occupy a tiny number of niches? I would guess that, if there are tetrapods regularly in a region, there are also birds regularly there, except the deep oceans, but I don't have a source for that, I just can't think of another exception (which is not an argument just a small basis to guess as so). As for specific diversity, Wikipedia says right in the opening of its page on birds (my emphasis): "Around 10,000 living species makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. " Birds are more diverse now than dinosaurs ever were during the Mesozoic. First of all, there have been around 700 species of dinosaurs discovered -- and those are fossils from the entire Mesozoic which lasted nearly 200 million years. Even when you extrapolate (pdf source) you probably only get about 1200 genera and 1440 species of dinosaurs for the entire Mesozoic. And the maximum that existed at any one time was about 100 genera. That there was a massive decline for the dinosaurs is easily deniable if you consider specific diversity and birds are understood as indistinct from dinosaurs, the latter conjunct being the original assumption.

    85. Re:Won't quiet the racists by jawahar · · Score: 1
    86. Re:Won't quiet the racists by crhylove · · Score: 1

      Actually, by most of the evidence available, Neanderthals had many superior traits to modern humans. They were bigger, had bigger brains, had a more resilient physical build. Humans really only had them beat in a couple of ways: less meat could feed more people, so we out bred them, also different throat and tongue position and superior linguistic abilities, enabling tool and other idea sharing to spread more quickly.

      Or as Sublime said, "Early man walked away, as modern man took control, their minds weren't all the same, to conquer was their goal. So they built their great empire and slaughtered their own kind, died a confused man, killed self with his own mind.... LET'S GO!!!"

      --
      I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
    87. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ummmm... that sounds pretty racist to me. . . Neo Nazis are total tools, but come on. . . there are a lot of black, hispanic, asian, midle eastern etc. . racist organizations that believe they are "the master race" every bit as much as Nazis have. We need to quit thinking of oursleves as sperate. I call BS on this "study". Sounds to me like some racist scientists inspired by the same pseudo-scientific crap that the Nazis tried to pull. . . YOu DO realize that they had the exact same "findings" in Nazi germany by "respected scientists", right? The only difference is they wrote the narrative to say that "Germanic people" were the ones who were genetically superior, and the rest were "neanderthals".

      History repeats itself. . . it just makes variations so you won't notice it so much,

    88. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Big cats were preying on hominids until hominids developed weapons and language to communicate and operate in large groups

      Big cats are still preying on hominids in certain areas of the world. It takes a permanent settlement with fixed walls to fend off those furry and beautiful bastards.

    89. Re:Won't quiet the racists by ShakaUVM · · Score: 2

      Certain things like mitochondria are very very successful. How could you argue otherwise?

      But I'm going off the premise that Neanderthals did indeed crossbreed with our branch of the homo family. If their genes survived in this fashion, then they were indeed successful.

    90. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 2

      To demonstrate the absurdity of your claim, let's turn it around:

      If homo neanderthaliensis cross-bred with homo sapiens, wiped him out, and continued to be largely homo neanderthaliensis with no visible or dominant feature of homo sapiens, how could you call homo sapiens successful?

      You could not, because it would be a failed branch of evolutionary tree that got assimilated and severed by an competitor without keeping any of the traits of the genus.

    91. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Another thing I forgot to mention below: mitochondria is an excellent example that argues AGAINST you. It's a cellular organism that became a highly specialized cellular organ without getting any major genetic modifications across species - i.e. most if not all of its main traits persist across various mitochondria found in different species. In terms of evolution it's extremely successful as no oxygen-breathing being on the planet can survive without having one in its cells.

    92. Re:Won't quiet the racists by ShakaUVM · · Score: 1

      To demonstrate the absurdity of your claim, let's turn it around:

      If homo neanderthaliensis cross-bred with homo sapiens, wiped him out, and continued to be largely homo neanderthaliensis with no visible or dominant feature of homo sapiens, how could you call homo sapiens successful?

      You could not, because it would be a failed branch of evolutionary tree that got assimilated and severed by an competitor without keeping any of the traits of the genus.

      Let's flip your claim around. If wolves and coyotes crossbred and produced the modern dog and then went extinct, would you say that wolves or coyotes were failures?

      Or to put it another way, if h. sapiens crossbred with h. neanderthalis to produce the modern h. sapiens, then it's a mistake to say that we were the ancient h. sapiens, when we're really the descendants of both.

    93. Re:Won't quiet the racists by dryeo · · Score: 1

      Actually the wolves have adapted very well. I have one living in the house here and so do many other people. We just call them dogs now but if people vanished they, at least some of them, would revert back to being wolves.

      --
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
    94. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Chrisq · · Score: 1

      How do you know Neanderthals were genetically inferior?

      Maybe because there's not too many of them around anymore. Or maybe they were just completely assimilated

      Well the Neanderthals had larger brains. The Sapiens had developed more abstract thinking. Perhaps this explains why non Africans have larger brains and higher average IQs

    95. Re:Won't quiet the racists by boristhespider · · Score: 1

      Wow. Sounds like someone should get over themselves.

      It was a joke. Whether you think it was funny is a different matter, but it was a joke. Sometimes it's worth accepting that.

      Also, I apologise for the tone of my previous post which looks absurdly aggressive in the cold light of morning.

    96. Re:Won't quiet the racists by jlar · · Score: 1

      Neanderthals did in fact have bigger brains than Homo Sapiens. So the image of a stupid club swinging half ape is probably wrong. But obviously bigger brains were not the deciding factor in the evolutionary arms race against Homo Sapiens. Much like today when I think about.

    97. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would you ever suppose that it would?

      Well, they probably have more neanderthal DNA in them so they're too unevolved to realise how fucking dumb ass and backward racism is. Whereas the so called pure bred negroids in South Africa that spent a couple of hundred years in hell thanks to said neanderthals have every reason to feel just that little bit more advanced and vindicated right now, what with supposedly being the only full members of the allegedly most advanced species evolution has ever produced, and the rest of us being mere hybrids. Haw haw haw, I wish Hitler was alive just to hear this, even if it is a crock.

      Note to self: Ancient Egypt and the Indus Valley Civilisations were started by black people as well, while the rest of us married our sisters and ate our children.

    98. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      hang on, the pharaohs married their sisters too....uhm....whatever. inbred, interbred....we're all related anyway

    99. Re:Won't quiet the racists by yeOldeSkeptic · · Score: 1

      How do you know Neanderthals were genetically inferior?

      Because they went extinct. You guys want to be so politically correct that you are even afraid to call the neanderthals inferior. Come on! There is no chance that someone in the world right now would be offended by the statement that Neanderthals are inferior. Homo Sapiens Sapiens dominates the world today while the neanderthals are nowhere to be found. That, in itself, indicates that in terms of biological success, neanderthals are inferior to us.

      Maybe we killed them off: we are nimbler, smarter, and probably more agressive than they. Our African ancestors went to Europe, the Neanderthals stayed where they were. That shows we have initiative and the smarts to plan ahead. Maybe the neanderthals are not as adaptable as us. When Europe became warmer, they were unable to cope. In any case, they are no longer here while we are in every corner of the earth.

      So they found we share, what 4% of our genes? We share over 98% of our genes with the chimpanzees! Four percent of the remaining 2% is not such a big deal. Our ancestors captured and raped Neanderthal women, and then adopted the offspring. Babies are babies everywhere. We find them cute. I have no doubt our ancestors find the Neanderthal babies cute also. It is those adopted babies that contributed the genes to our gene pool over the many generations. But make no mistake, the Neanderthals are extinct. We are not them and they are not us.

      This new discovery is very intriguing but it does not take away from the fact the Neanderthals are the loser species.

    100. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      Actually Neanderthals could not survive extreme conditions, they stayed in southern France, and never moved north of that. As hikers go they are more like cushy charter tourists. Compared to them, humans were the hikers, including the interbreeding with locals around the Mediterranean. Neanderthals did have slightly more advanced tools than contemporary humans though.

    101. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Bad comparison, because canis lupus species has been selectively bred for too long. Humans have not. Also, modern dog is not a crossbreed - it's a subspecies of selectively bred canis lupus species. Humans have no subspecies, and in fact, we are the only remaining representatives of our genus - two levels up from subspecies.

      If you try this comparison with an actual non-bred genus/species like humans, you'll notice that it doesn't work. When a species in wild cross-breeds with another species and produces a viable offspring that wins survival war against its host species, it's usually species that inherits successful traits from both host species.

      In case of h. sapiens vs h. neanderthaliensis, we inherited none of their traits - h. sapiens as species has remained largely the same. The difference between two species is significant enough for us to have visible traits of their species, as well as significant variation from suggested control group - h. sapiens of African-descent if claims of cross-breeding were true.

      Which again suggests strongly at common ancestry rather then cross-breeding.

    102. Re:Won't quiet the racists by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      Somehow I doubt that telling those white supremacists that they're the ones descended from Neanderthals and that the Africans are the only group lacking Neanderthal DNA would do anything to change their perspectives.

      If you're implying that the Neanderthals were 'inferior' to the then-African humans, that's a bit of a fallacy. They were probably rather more intelligent, but without such strong social skills as the then-African humans. Perhaps inter-breeding created a mix of genes which were superior to both species, with a good blend of the higher intelligence and social skills.

      As an open question: could this account for the apparent lack of intellectual progress in modern Africa (Europe/Asia seem to have done better), or is that down to other factors?

    103. Re:Won't quiet the racists by JavaBear · · Score: 1

      Maybe because there's not too many of them around anymore. Or maybe they were just completely assimilated

      Just go visit a Soccer fan club, there they are making the cave man stereotype proud.

    104. Re:Won't quiet the racists by qbrick · · Score: 1

      It's a pity that those who share this Haplotype do not enjoy full backwards compatibility.

    105. Re:Won't quiet the racists by mcvos · · Score: 1

      The whole point of this article is that they're still around. And not only are they still around, but they are still around in all the countries that are currently "winning" the global game of Civilization

      You mean China and India?

    106. Re:Won't quiet the racists by mcvos · · Score: 1

      The image of Neanderthals as half apes has been obsolete for decades, if it has existed at all. Australopitheci are half apes. Neanderthals have been considered human for nearly as long as we've known about them.

      The only real difference seems to be speech and exchange of ideas. When a Neanderthal invents a new tool, his tribe gets the benefit of a clever toolmaker for a generation. If a Homo Sapiens invents a new tool, in a few generations, everybody is making it too. Clearly patents and copyrights are driving us back into the stone age.

    107. Re:Won't quiet the racists by ShakaUVM · · Score: 1

      >>You mean China and India?

      China and India are pop booming, America is trying to go for a tech/conquest victory. the EU is going the culture route.

      So I'd say the Sons of the Neanderthals are doing pretty well as a clan.

    108. Re:Won't quiet the racists by ShakaUVM · · Score: 1

      >>Also, modern dog is not a crossbreed

      I understand that, as should be obvious from the "...and then the wolf and coyote go extinct" bits.

      >>h. sapiens as species has remained largely the same

      You know this because?

      It's quite possible that hybriding with Neanderthals was a critical step in our species' development.

      In re: to the success of mitochondria, they're successful because they're so widespread, not because they hybridized.

    109. Re:Won't quiet the racists by ShakaUVM · · Score: 1

      >>It is those adopted babies that contributed the genes to our gene pool over the many generations. But make no mistake, the Neanderthals are extinct. We are not them and they are not us.

      Contradiction of statements. If we hybridized with them, we had 50% Neanderthal, 50% h. sapiens babies running around. If these genes are still around, this means the offspring were successful and viable.

      Think about it for a second. We're not either purely either.

    110. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      We know this because we have findings of homo sapiens remains from same time as findings of homo neandertaliensis, and homo sapiens of that time are largely the same as ones we have over 6 billion of. Again, if "hybriding", or as the terms in biology go, crossbreeding with them was a critical step, or even important step for our species' development, this would have been visible in terms of distinctive features of our species. So far, none of findings of actual remains support this, and many findings support the theory that features of neanderthals were in fact the main reason why they could not compete with us - on one hand they were too strong, requiring too much calories and protein in their diet, on other hand they did not have the brain capable of significant abstraction needed to design tools.

      Again, crossbreeding implies that we would get some features from them, clearly separating whatever resulted from such crossbreeding from homo sapiens and specifically the control group that is homo sapiens from Africa. Yet we do not.

      Wikipedia in fact has a pretty good, if very simplified evolutionary tree of homo genus here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Humanevolutionchart.jpg

      The likely issue is not that we crossbred with neanderthals, it's that we are yet to find the clearly defined common ancestor for both ourselves and neanderthals, if such species existed. Existence of such species has been supported by much evidence, and the particular evidence presented in the article is yet another piece that points to existence of such species.

    111. Re:Won't quiet the racists by ShakaUVM · · Score: 1

      I doubt that chart has been updated since these findings, and I doubt that 4% Neanderthal DNA will result in noticeable skeletal changes.

      The very fact these genes survived though MEANS that they improved the fitness of their offspring.

    112. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Somehow I doubt that telling those white supremacists that they're the ones descended from Neanderthals and that the Africans are the only group lacking Neanderthal DNA would do anything to change their perspectives.

      They're delighted at the proof that niggers are a separate species.

    113. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow, self-victimization and racism at the same time in one sentence. Congratulations. I can think of at least 4 things that are inherently 'wrong' with your way of thinking.

    114. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They will just call themselves Neanderthal Supremacists and maintain miscegenation (Caucasian/negro) sense is wrong because it further dillutes the Neanderthal genes.

    115. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So are you trying to say we are are modern humans, but Africans aren't? Does this mean I should have voted for Kodos?

    116. Re:Won't quiet the racists by danlip · · Score: 1

      Well, you said "less evolved", and if some organism is less evolved that implies the others are more evolved. Since all life is descended from a common ancestor you could say it means everything is equally evolved - certainly everything has been evolving for the same length of time.

    117. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Somehow I doubt that telling those white supremacists that they're the ones descended from Neanderthals and that the Africans are the only group lacking Neanderthal DNA would do anything to change their perspectives.

      Whose the racist here?

    118. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do you know Neanderthals were genetically inferior?

      Oh, what did say Pope on this subject?

    119. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In fact, this could be a biological reasoning for a supremacy. Something like telling, hey, these genes make us to not behave like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhxqIITtTtU (Ape With AK-47). May be, you just want to say that anything Neanderthalian is bad, but it is a strange (anti)supremacy by itself.

      I am not willing to force the thing above, this is just for pointing out your false logic.

    120. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is this where us white boys get our small dicks?

    121. Re:Won't quiet the racists by mldi · · Score: 1

      I used "less evolved" in quotes because that term was used frequently in this thread. I never implied anything was actually more or less evolved. I thought that was pretty clear in the very first sentence. But hey, a little more clarity never hurts I suppose.

      --
      If you aren't suspicious of your government's actions, you aren't doing your job as a responsible citizen.
    122. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, man, let's get all racist about this! Getting racist about this is about as racists as you can get.

      Whatchewtalkin'boutWillis? You mean the ones who developed the written languages, built boats, explored the planet, conceptualized then harnessed electricity, brought the Enlightenment to the world's conscienceness, developed the light bulb, refridgeration, sound recording and playback techniques, invented engines & made cars, airplanes, and landed on the moon etc etc etc...THOSE supremacists?

      What perspective is supposed to change here TWX...that those lacking Neanderthal DNA who still live in grass huts in their native lands, shooting darts thru bamboo tubes at prey and putting their fellow man into slavery still to this day are somehow the pillars of intellectual evolution?
       

    123. Re:Won't quiet the racists by jc42 · · Score: 1

      Neanderthals are extinct. They were evolution's losers. QED.

      So are the Cro Magnon. There are none of them left alive today. All that's left is the hybrid population that they and their Neanderthal neighbors left behind. We now have good evidence that the modern Eurasian population was derived from both of them.

      Any group goes extinct eventually. The evolutionary question is whether their descendants died out. The Cro Magnon and Neanderthals both have millions of descendants today, so neither is truly extinct.

      We can expect that further research will clarify the fraction of their DNA that both contributed to the modern population. Of course, as any geneticist will agree, both were over 99% identical genetically to the modern population. The differences between human subspecies are very small, and mostly superficial.

      The question of percent contribution of genes is really talking about a tiny portion of the human genome. And the result was almost certainly the usual result of population mixture: Each population contributed a collection of mutations, many of them adaptive and beneficial. A few hundred generations weeded out the inferior variants, leaving a somewhat better-adapted population than before. And the process continues today.

      --
      Those who do study history are doomed to stand helplessly by while everyone else repeats it.
    124. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Darby · · Score: 0

      Or as Sublime said,

      In their cover of a Bad Religion song...

    125. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Genes surviving in gene pool doesn't mean improvement. We have a massive amount of genes in our gene pool that are utterly useless genetic ballast from evolution.

    126. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If one were to look at the succes (in civilization-building, science, art, and culture) of sub-saharan Homo sapiens versus those in Asia, the Middle-East, Europe, and the New World... It should be obvious that there may be an advantage to those Neanderthal genes.

    127. Re:Won't quiet the racists by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      There are people with a neanderthal great^x grandparent, I'd call that being a descendant, unless you are positing a viral mode of transmission (not impossible but unlikely)

    128. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Paracelcus · · Score: 1

      Until your car breaks down and your cell phone doesn't work and your spare is flat And snow starts to fall!

      --
      I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
    129. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Paracelcus · · Score: 1

      You don't read much, huh?

      --
      I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
    130. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Paracelcus · · Score: 1

      YES, an intelligent response!
      RAH!

      --
      I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
    131. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Savantissimo · · Score: 1

      Damn, that's stupid. Where do you think the name came from? "Thaler" means "of the valley" in German (and is the root of "dollar" as well). "Neanderthaler" "means "of the Neander valley", which is in the mid-latitudes of Germany, and not so far from the southern Baltic coast. If you check out the Wikipedia article on Neanderthals, you will see that their range included all of the southern Baltic except for Denmark. They also had southern Britain, all of non-Scandinavian Europe, the Mid-East north of the African coast, and also a good deal of central Asia.

      --
      "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
    132. Re:Won't quiet the racists by jvkjvk · · Score: 1

      Well, in simple genetic terms, it is often better to be the product of a hybridization process.

      The resultant mix is more likely, after generations, to include more of the individual beneficial features of each separate base stock as such would provide a higher survivability rate.

      So, no, I don't think it would stop the white supremacists at all.

      They just have to redefine what they mean by perfect to be the opposite of what they currently pin the meaning on.

      Since this is a rational or logical dissonance, in the end, all you'd get is a *whoosh* as a new generation of supremacists argue that this genetic mixture is what defines their superiority.

      Regards.

    133. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nor should it. Neanderthals had many characteristics superior to homo sapiens.

    134. Re:Won't quiet the racists by FiloEleven · · Score: 1

      Soon as we find a Neanderthal skeleton on the moon I'll be convinced of their superiority.

      I won't. That just means they were too stupid to get back to Earth.

    135. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      your sophism is lacking!!! as a non sub-saharan african , i might find your specious statements about " those white supremacist " as " genetically inferior " the humorous paralogic ramblings of a single person who's heart is so full of hate for non-africans (white people) that he can't even see contridictions in his reasoning and public statements. but pardon me if i don't laugh as the humor has worn very thin after decades of dealing with people like you at every turn!!!

    136. Re:Won't quiet the racists by fatphil · · Score: 1

      "Perhaps this explains why non Africans have ... higher average IQs"

      The difference in IQ between someone who has had a decent education and someone who has had none is incomparably vaster than the relatively insignificant differences reported in those results. Therefore all you are measuring is the education system, everything else is lost in the noise. So the results in that link only tell me that the US education system isn't very good at educating the majority of those who are identified as black.

      --
      Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
    137. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Luckyo · · Score: 1

      Where is the proof for this hypotesis? Again, the current theory stands that we and neanderthals had a common ancestor, through which we share some of our gene pool with that we share with no one else.

    138. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Carewolf · · Score: 1

      So being right is stupid? Humans could go and live in Scandinavia and even north of the Arctic circle, Neanderthals could not and moved to south Europe during the last ice age, just when humans took over.

    139. Re:Won't quiet the racists by Savantissimo · · Score: 1

      Clearly many sites have been found north of where you claimed, so, no, you aren't right.
      No one is known to have been living north of the Neanderthals. Those areas were covered by ice sheets. The Neanderthals moved north when the ice retreated, and south when it advanced. The climate was extremely variable during this period (see the Greenland O-18 variations), with changes over the course of decades of a magnitude similar to that of a change from the ice age average to the holocene, but going from well below the ice age average to well above it, yet still well below modern temperatures. The Neanderthals with their barrel chests and short limbs were more cold adapted than modern humans who have a greater surface-to-volume ratio, but being dependent on plants and animals which would have changed rapidly with the climate, and having a 15-20% greater energy need due to their mass, they would have been at a disadvantage not in cold climates, but in rapidly varying climates when food became scarce in a given region.

      The Neanderthals held Europe for over 100,000 years. Counting the similar Heidelberg Man, they held Europe for perhaps 500,000 years. The sites and artifacts over this tremendous period show them to be were as intelligent and adaptable as any hominids on the planet during this time.

      --
      "Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?" - Patrick Henry
  4. So that begs the question. Are neanderthals human? by lazn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    So.. Just how "different" are/were they? It sounds to me like we are calling neanderthals non homosapiens when in reality they are no more different from us than say a tall blond Scandinavian is from a short Asian.. Or a chihuahua from a great dane.

  5. are the neanderthal genes expressed? by hxnwix · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The human genome contains all kinds of junk that isn't expressed, including code for various viruses. However, that does not make one a virus any more than it makes one a neanderthal.

    1. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by oldhack · · Score: 1

      Sure. You know some people have out-sized protruding forehead? Yep, them's expressing it.

      --
      Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
    2. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by hxnwix · · Score: 2

      Sure. You know some people have out-sized protruding forehead? Yep, them's expressing it.

      I asked a question about genetics and got a reply about phrenology. Welcome to slashdot...

    3. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Most likely. Some facial features with large, rounder features could be it.
      Same with those wide noses and larger lips usually only seen in a select few races.
      Absurd hair growth is most likely a farther regression event.

      Would be interesting to see if anything else is being expressed from our evolutionary tree.

    4. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The human genome contains all kinds of junk that isn't expressed, including code for various viruses. However, that does not make one a virus any more than it makes one a neanderthal.

      Neanderthal DNA would explain a lot. Current theory has us leaving Africa around 35,000 years ago. Some how all but overnight we wound up with blonde and red hair not to mention plain old brown hair. Also blue and green eyes and pale skin. There are also some facial differences in the three major populations. That's a lot of mutations for 35,000 years. It would also explain why Aboriginals kept a similar appearance to their african ancestors, they never mixed with Neanderthals. Remember Aboriginals left Africa 80,000 years ago so why don't they have more mutations not fewer? People of the northern hemisphere are a bunch of hybrids where as Africans tend to me more pure Homo Sapien stock. Like I say it can explain a lot about how we ended up so different in appearance after a few generations. It also explains where a group of advanced humans went, they interbred instead of going extinct. Some populations like the group in Southern Spain may have resisted mixing and ended up loosing out so the mixing was good for both populations. We got the cold adaptations and the Neanderthals didn't have to compete with the newcomers they merged with them.

    5. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by oldhack · · Score: 1

      Neaderthal's gens are also expressed by their incomprehension of linkage between genes and physical features. Hope that helps.

      --
      Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
    6. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if you had posted your question in the body of your post you'd have had a better chance of getting a good reply. The way you composed it made it look like you were just making a statement.

    7. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Heddahenrik · · Score: 1

      Of course not. You're a bacteria. There are more bacterias in your body than human cells, and they are probably more important than most of your cells. It's not like you brain does anything without the influence of chemicals created in your gut.

    8. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Anachragnome · · Score: 1, Funny

      Oh, c'mon.

      Phrenology is quite useful, and quite possibly the only means of divination that is subject to "real-time" influences.

      For instance, If I were to take a tire iron to your head for a few seconds, I would suddenly be able to determine far more information about you, based solely on the bumps in your cranium. I'd know that you were in urgent need of medical care, that you were in possession of a flawed "fight or flight" response mechanism (perhaps an expression of Neanderthal genes...) and that you need to work on your reflexes.

      You need an open mind (speaking figuratively, of course) if you are going to participate here at Slashdot.

    9. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Cronock · · Score: 1

      The introduction of the gene requires mating in regards to Neanderthals, whereas it's a little difficult to mate with a virus.

    10. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mostly at football matches.

    11. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Raenex · · Score: 1

      The human genome contains all kinds of junk that isn't expressed, including code for various viruses.

      Obligatory Dresden Codak

    12. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes it does. You are in large part, virus and bacteria. Species is a simplification left over from the 19th century.

    13. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Culture20 · · Score: 1

      Genetics? Dr.Bob,DC can help!

    14. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      However, that does not make one a virus

      LOL

    15. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Roachie · · Score: 1

      If the human genome contains code for virus, is it possible for human cell biology to produce a virus spontaneously? Thats kinda interesting.

      --
      This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
    16. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Autoimmune disorders? Cancer?

    17. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by osu-neko · · Score: 1

      It's theoretically possible for any living organism to produce a new virus "spontaneously", regardless of whether any of its existing genetic coding came from viruses or not. After all, that's how they came into being to begin with...

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
    18. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by noodler · · Score: 1

      You can't deny that the way we're built is coded in genes.

      And besides, if we have neaderthal genes in the junk department then it means we have interbred at some point.
      And these interbreedings have led to viable, breeding individuals.
      This then also means that some neanderthal genes must have become expressed simply because not all sapiens genes are dominant.

    19. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The human genome contains all kinds of junk that isn't expressed, including code for various viruses. However, that does not make one a virus any more than it makes one a neanderthal.

      Humans are the very definition of a virus! We are a plague of the planet, much like the viruses that effect our bodies.

    20. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're wrong about that. Humans are merely giant virus-bags that believe themselves superiorly sentient.

    21. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by jon_doh2.0 · · Score: 1

      Interesting, are you arguing that many organisms are, in fact, eco-systems?

    22. Re:are the neanderthal genes expressed? by Roachie · · Score: 1

      Great, more shit to worry about.

      --
      This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
  6. Obvious implication: by Hartree · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think it's proof that most of us slashdot geeks are such social basket cases even our ancestors had to move to a foreign land and get a neanderthal to date them.

    Those slashdotters who are from Africa get a free pass on this one.

    1. Re:Obvious implication: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Depending on your timeline, that would ultimately be all of them.

    2. Re:Obvious implication: by couchslug · · Score: 1

      "I think it's proof that most of us slashdot geeks are such social basket cases even our ancestors had to move to a foreign land and get a neanderthal to date them."

      Yes, BUT IT WORKED!

      --
      "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
    3. Re:Obvious implication: by Heddahenrik · · Score: 1

      So how can we make it work again now when all neanderthals are mostly homo (;))?

    4. Re:Obvious implication: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It was the accent

    5. Re:Obvious implication: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Neanderthal girlfriend was our ancestor's canadian girlfriend

  7. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Of course phisical anthropology makes a distinction. Just watch Bones or read a paper: you can divide caucasian, asian, african. It's like red, green and blue: you have those 3, and infinite colors in the middle. And red is not "better" than violet or pink.
      There is no problem with races, the problem arises when one race is arbitrarily defined as being "better" than others. Also, there are no strict bounds, just like you can't draw a line between red and pink.

  8. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by tapspace · · Score: 1

    Maybe. I don't really know that much about the different species (and biology is more description and cataloging than discovery IMO), but I think it's more than that. Like the homosapiens are more intelligent (by a large margin) and the neanderthals are stronger (by a large margin). We couldn't have an olympics between the species because the homosapiens would get demolished. Nor could we have a spelling bee, because the opposite would be true. This is what I am thinking.

    I also think that Africans and descendants are stronger by nature, so I think it's odd that they didn't interbreed with the stronger neanderthals. (I don't think that's racist to say, but certainly not PC)

  9. more like we genocided them by decora · · Score: 2

    i have read some of the archaeology people's writings, and uhm, they have a nice euphemism. "outcompeted". they look at burial sites and so forth to chart the spread of the species.

    and uhm. the neanderthals were mass slaughtered.

    actually its pretty common in history, from the genetic records, to have waves of populations come in and slaughter the existing population, completely displacing it.

    yay us.

    1. Re:more like we genocided them by FoolishOwl · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You missed the part where they've found evidence that most humans have Neanderthal genes.

      I always wondered why the assumption was genocide, when human communities tend to favor marriage to members of adjacent groups, and by most accounts I've read, Neanderthals would have been almost indistinguishable from anatomically modern humans, anyway. It just always seemed to make the most sense that the Neanderthals would have simply been absorbed by the larger group.

    2. Re:more like we genocided them by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 3, Interesting

      how would they be almost indistinguishable? They were more muscular, stockier, and had very prominent orbital ridges.

    3. Re:more like we genocided them by mswhippingboy · · Score: 2

      waves of populations come in and slaughter the existing population, completely displacing it.

      GP doesn't necessarily contradict this theory. It makes sense to me. They killed all the males and kept the females for pleasure, many of which resulted in offspring. These offspring came to dominate to the point that very few tribes existed that were not tribes descendants of this hybridization. Not too hard for me to believe.

      --
      Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
    4. Re:more like we genocided them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Watch football much?

    5. Re:more like we genocided them by mswhippingboy · · Score: 2

      how would they be almost indistinguishable? They were more muscular, stockier, and had very prominent orbital ridges.

      To this I reply "Richard Kiel".

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Kiel_2.JPG

      Case closed.

      --
      Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
    6. Re:more like we genocided them by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      He has gigantism. Acromegaly is a known comorbidity of gigantism which explains his appearance.

    7. Re:more like we genocided them by mswhippingboy · · Score: 1

      I was, of course being facetious in my remark. However, it got me thinking (dangerous I know). Is it not possible that, due to some very minor genetic mutation in Africans 170,000 years ago or so the, pituitary gland began to produce ever-so-slightly less GH, while it continued normally for Neanderthal populations. This reduction in GH produced Africans with less pronounced facial features, while these feature remained prominent in Neanderthals. It seems to me, as many genetic mutations do, that every once and a while there is some recessive trait that surfaces again. I'd be curious if there are any studies of frequency of gigantism by genetic origin.

      --
      Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
    8. Re:more like we genocided them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and uhm. the neanderthals were mass slaughtered.

      The Neanderthals were so few in number that there were no masses of them. They clang on to the edges of extinction for much of their existance.

    9. Re:more like we genocided them by mldi · · Score: 1

      I think you have a good point. Just as I think the global distribution of race will be a completely different picture in 200 years. We have super fast global travel and people of all races and cultures are living everywhere now. Some have more of a mix than others, but as time goes on there'll be more and more mixing goin' on, and I have a hard time picturing many "purebreds" being born after that.

      Which is a great thing from a biological point of view.

      --
      If you aren't suspicious of your government's actions, you aren't doing your job as a responsible citizen.
    10. Re:more like we genocided them by Slur · · Score: 1

      "Like."

      Gads, I know.

      --
      -- thinkyhead software and media
    11. Re:more like we genocided them by bgowing · · Score: 1

      Especially as westerners intermix more with easterners because, you know, Asian chicks are just HOT.

    12. Re:more like we genocided them by Belial6 · · Score: 1

      It is not exactly a great thing from a biological point of view. At some point, that intermixing ends up as a single gene pool that has all the problems of a genetic monoculture. What you want is waves of isolation combined with reintegration. In a best case scenerio, you have this happining in multiple places with different groups so that you have a constant influx of groups that have been isolated for many generations.

      You likely accurate assessment of where we will be in 200 years will bring short term benefits, but will make the human race more likely to be wiped out in a pandemic in the long run.

    13. Re:more like we genocided them by sFurbo · · Score: 1

      It isn't my impression that human communities tend to favour mating with adjacent groups, most new tribes discovered tends to favour throwing whatever death-inducing sharp object they have handy after foreigners. Of course, that might explain why they are still there to discover, the tribes that favour interbreeding stays discovered after the first contact, the more aggressive tribes tend to get undiscovered rather quickly (say, at the speed they can throw a poisoned spear).

    14. Re:more like we genocided them by Barsteward · · Score: 0

      "I always wondered why the assumption was genocide,"

      the christian god promotes genocide so its probable

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
    15. Re:more like we genocided them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Marriage?
      With the whole "rape and plunder" thing, what part of "rape" was not clear?

      This is Homo Sapiens you are talking about, not some wussy cute peace-loving oversized lemur.

    16. Re:more like we genocided them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the archeologists who were so insistent we outcompeted them and were so superior and that there was no inbreeding with such a different species were themselves 5% neanderthal.

      Irony is so beautiful.

    17. Re:more like we genocided them by Nicolai+Haehnle · · Score: 1

      IANAG, but I don't think that with a global population of many billions, intermixing happens quickly enough to really produce a mono-culture. Besides, the fact that modern medicine reduces evolutionary pressures allows the general gene diversity to increase anyway, which will help us a lot in the long run precisely because it protects against pandemics.

    18. Re:more like we genocided them by KillaBeave · · Score: 2

      I'll see your Richard Keil and raise you a Ron Perlman. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Perlman

    19. Re:more like we genocided them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know, this is the internet. You can actually think in your head and then write cogently without actually writing out the "uhms" and "uhs" you are hearing in your head.

    20. Re:more like we genocided them by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      They would have been very attractive to the ladies then?

      No, seriously. Those are traits that today's women usually find attractive - including the orbital ridges as far as I can tell, although perhaps not those as extreme as seen on neanderthals. Being more muscular has obvious advantages and being stockier is advantageous in colder European climates.

      Maybe they stole away the wimminz from the "wimpier" more modern humans?

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    21. Re:more like we genocided them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Correct! Neanderthals were actually a subspecies of Homo Sapiens. The physical differences were small when the bigger picture was taken into account. A fact about Neanderthals is that they actually had larger brains than modern humans. Of course, this does not imply that they were more intelligent.

    22. Re:more like we genocided them by TheLink · · Score: 1

      Wars in the old days (and today I bet ;) ) involved killing/raping/enslaving/pillaging.

      The raping and enslaving bit often results in progeny.

      --
    23. Re:more like we genocided them by marcosdumay · · Score: 1

      "and uhm. the neanderthals were mass slaughtered."

      So, not very different from what sapiens sapiens did to sapiens sapiens on several other ocasions... Or, you can extend that to any couple of primate species that were ever in contact.

      But, also, we were mixed. All that talking about extinction as if it was a clear event is nonsense, there are only shades of gray here.

    24. Re:more like we genocided them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      how would they be almost indistinguishable? They were more muscular, stockier, and had very prominent orbital ridges.

      To this I reply "Richard Kiel".

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Kiel_2.JPG

      Case closed.

      i just looked up Richard Kiel...what a hoot! thx for the laugh!

    25. Re:more like we genocided them by citylivin · · Score: 1

      "I always wondered why the assumption was genocide, when human communities tend to favor marriage to members of adjacent groups"

      Seeing as most early religions of the region are based on Zoroastrianism, with its inbuilt duality. I have surmised for years that this was caused by the "us" and "them" mentality from these sorts of "species wars". This finding is also quite interesting as it pretty much declares that africans are the only real "homo sapiens" on the planet.

      Personally, I have a cranial ridge and other "Neanderthalish" features. As do many people you see on the street, so I have always assumed interbreeding was the norm not the exception.

      --
      As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
    26. Re:more like we genocided them by mldi · · Score: 1

      Besides, the fact that modern medicine reduces evolutionary pressures allows the general gene diversity to increase anyway, which will help us a lot in the long run precisely because it protects against pandemics.

      I disagree with that assessment. The fact that we have modern medicine is actually weakening our gene pool as the normal process of natural selection isn't allowed to take place. We interrupt it, and so poor genes are allowed to propagate with no criteria for survival. Only the worst diseases that hit soon enough or don't allow someone to reproduce are the ones getting weeded out... but of course, we're working to cure those too. I'm not saying we shouldn't help people, but you do have to realize that, ironically, our own evolution (maybe more a civilization evolution) will bring our own demise as a species unless we can figure out how to solve that problem.

      It's because of this that I believe gene therapy is the only solution to the problem. But of course, that has some pretty scary consequences as well. Though, for the sake of survival in the long run, I believe it's the next logical step in our evolution as a civilization.

      --
      If you aren't suspicious of your government's actions, you aren't doing your job as a responsible citizen.
    27. Re:more like we genocided them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So did my ex-girlfriend...now I understand why.

    28. Re:more like we genocided them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because the genes get watered down over time.

    29. Re:more like we genocided them by Nicolai+Haehnle · · Score: 1

      What if one of those "weak" genes turns out to hold the key to immunity against the next super-virus? How do you know that a gene that might appear to be "weak" right now won't suddenly become crucial to survival once the environment changes? See the relation between sickle cell disease and immunity against malaria for a well-known example.

      I think you completely missed my point. Our understanding of the effects of individual genes is abysmal, and while we've made progress, we're a long time away from really knowing what is going on. Given that situation, it is better to have a gene pool that is as diverse as possible, because that increases the likelihood that at least some part of the population will have the genes to be prepared against the next large threat.

      Gene therapy - at least for the purpose you seem to have in mind - is hubris.

    30. Re:more like we genocided them by mldi · · Score: 1

      A diverse gene pool is generally better to avoid over-promoting certain genes, that I agree with. However, the chances of some genetic disorders of being a key to survival against some worldwide pandemic is nil. I'm not saying it's not possible, but for a population this large we have a diverse enough gene pool where it probably wouldn't make that much of a difference. It's completely random. Any other gene in the body has just as much of a chance as being the "magic gene" in a pandemic as the genes responsible for some of these hereditary diseases that do nothing except weaken entire genetic lines against everyday things.

      It's not like we've stopped mutating. We can do without stuff like Wilson's disease, which is a treatable disease that strikes early and is passed down from parents. You can't possibly claim that having Wilson's disease would somehow save the human race someday. Without treatment, these people would probably die from liver disease. It's not like we're talking about a couple of allergies here. I'm talking about show-stopping (read: would otherwise not reproduce if left untreated) genetic disorders. Modern medicine just allows these genes to flourish where they would otherwise be killed off.

      Just remember, one of these "bad" genes, if allowed to propagate, has just as much chance of making us more susceptible to a pandemic as it has making us less susceptible.

      --
      If you aren't suspicious of your government's actions, you aren't doing your job as a responsible citizen.
  10. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by RichardJenkins · · Score: 1

    From what I understand paleontologists love balling each other out over this sort of things. Doubly so when humans are involved.

    If early modern humans and neanderthals were still closely related enough to mate should they be considered the same speciees? If so then our species has a much larger family tree than thought. If not then why would the offspring of the two different species mating be considered homo sapient and not homo neanderthalensis. Why why why?

    Glad there's pepole thinking about this stuff....I sure can't wrap my head around it.

  11. and anyone that does not believe it by FudRucker · · Score: 1

    has never seen Steve Ballmer dance around the stage yelling "developers developers developers"

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
  12. So we are all homos? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...

  13. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by jheath314 · · Score: 1

    Currently we believe they were far more stocky and muscular than modern humans (from looking at the way their muscles connected to the bones), and they appeared to be more robust (several severely fractured bones show signs of healing).

    I think the most interesting difference is that their children appeared to mature faster than ours, taking only 11 years to become fully-grown. (I think the evidence for this is still debated). Even though interbreeding evidently took place, it seems to me they were nevertheless very different.

    --
    Procrastination Man strikes again!
  14. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by ElectricTurtle · · Score: 1

    From what I understand paleontologists love balling each other ...

    *snicker* *giggle*

    It's 'bawling out' dude.

    --
    I support the Slashcott and will not be reading or commenting from 2/10/14 to 2/17/14. Beta is steaming pile of dog shit
  15. Classic example of the "species problem" by realxmp · · Score: 4, Interesting

    One of the problems here in saying whether Neanderthal's are a different species to Homo Sapiens is that the word species is poorly defined. It's actually been a problem since Darwin's day, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_problem gives an idea of how long we've been arguing this. Personally if I feel if they were routinely successfully breeding with homo sapiens then calling them a separate species may be a bit of a stretch.

    1. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's not poorly defined so much as there's no single definition that will do. The definitions provided are generalized by the very nature of the species concept itself. As with the definition of life itself, there's no black and white, but continuums. Take a look at ring species for the root of the problem with eukaryotic organisms. It gets even more complicated when you deal with procaryotes. It gets just as bad when you deal with some bizarre reproductive strategies like polyploidism in plants which can produce a new species in a single generation.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      No... it really isn't a stretch.

      There are significant physiological differences between Neanderthal and Homo sapiens. Just because two species can interbreed does not mean they are the same species.

      We know that Neanderthal evolved much more directly from H. erectus than H. sapiens. On top of that, Neanderthal existed separate from Modern Humans for most of their existence. The genetic differences are as stark as the physiological differences.

      What allows for inter breeding is that the entire Homo genus has the same number of chromosomes. That is it.

    3. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by glwtta · · Score: 1

      Just because two species can interbreed does not mean they are the same species.

      That has been a part of the functional definition of "species" for quite some time.

      There also significant physiological and genetic differences between different human populations - that's rather the point, you can't just draw a line that says "different enough to be a different species".

      What allows for inter breeding is that the entire Homo genus has the same number of chromosomes. That is it.

      Well, there's probably a bit more to it than that, or we'd be breeding with black rats and mountain beavers all the time.

      --
      sic transit gloria mundi
    4. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by Phoobarnvaz · · Score: 1

      One of the problems here in saying whether Neanderthal's are a different species to Homo Sapiens is that the word species is poorly defined. It's actually been a problem since Darwin's day, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_problem gives an idea of how long we've been arguing this. Personally if I feel if they were routinely successfully breeding with homo sapiens then calling them a separate species may be a bit of a stretch.

      Does that mean that since I was always told I was found under a rock...have rocks for brains and having a stubborn streak which makes me rock headed that I'm part of the suspected missing link for silicon based lifeforms?

      --
      Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia. - Charles M. Schulz
    5. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by realxmp · · Score: 1

      There are significant physiological differences between Neanderthal and Homo sapiens. Just because two species can interbreed does not mean they are the same species.

      No it's not definitive, but it's one of the major things we look for. Not just can interbreed but whether frequent breeding occurs between them without human intervention. In this case however, human intervention is kinda a given though. Actually I'm not alone in my skeptism, there are other scientists who refer to them as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, a subspecies of Homo sapiens rather than separate. The ultimate proof will be in these genetic comparisions between us, and neanderthals but getting that data is tricky as can be and there are still some who think this research is too contaminated to be of any use.

      What allows for inter breeding is that the entire Homo genus has the same number of chromosomes. That is it.

      Number of chromosomes helps but once again not the major factor in successful breeding, rather it's the amount of similarity in the genome (something like 99.5% according to Noonan et al. 2006). Thus why horses, zebras and donkeys can breed despite having different numbers of chromosomes.

      Either way I'm still keeping an open mind on this one.

    6. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by DigiShaman · · Score: 1

      When two living colonies separate for a long enough period of time, they turn into separate species. My understanding of both Neanderthal and Homo Sapien is that while they are genetically apart, not so much as to still create a hybrid. For example, two Neanderthals may conceive a child with the same success rate as two Homo Sapiens. However when a Neanderthal mates with a Homo Sapien, conception isn't impossible but rather much more rare. Maybe this why there's only a 4% genetic differentiation to this day. Of course, that's just a wild-ass guess.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    7. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      No, it has not been part of the functional definition of species.

      http://rafonda.com/interbreeding_between_species.html

      by significant physiological differences, I am referring to their muscle mass, brain size, and age of maturation, all of which are beyond the three standard deviations from the mean of modern humans.

    8. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      horse, donkey and zebra can interbreed but they should not produce offspring that are fertile.

    9. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      Another question about your consideration of the validity of the alternative classification of Neanderthal:

      How do you account for the significant difference between the earliest Homo sapiens idaltu appearance in Africa and the first appearance of Neanderthal in Europe?

    10. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by am+2k · · Score: 1

      Well, there's probably a bit more to it than that, or we'd be breeding with black rats and mountain beavers all the time.

      Hmm that doesn't fit the list on wikipedia.

      Anyways, considering that some species have a different count for male and female, I guess "more to it" doesn't quite cut it.

    11. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by osu-neko · · Score: 1

      There are significant physiological differences between Neanderthal and Homo sapiens.

      Not nearly as significant as the differences between bulldogs and chihuahuas.

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
    12. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      Really?

      Do bull dog pups mature at a slower or faster rate compared to Chihuahua pups?

    13. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "It's not poorly defined so much as there's no single definition that will do." Just like "evil."

    14. Re:Classic example of the "species problem" by brianerst · · Score: 1

      Just because two species can interbreed does not mean they are the same species.

      That has been a part of the functional definition of "species" for quite some time.

      But only a part of the definition.

      Think about genus Canis, which includes wolves, dogs, coyotes, jackals and dingos. They all can and do successfully interbreed and produce fertile offspring, but are widely considered separate and distinct species (except maybe wolf/dog).

  16. Neanderthal=Nordic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    The idea that Neanderthal Man was a sub-species is a product of 19th century "scientific" assumption. It might also be called a case of finding what you are looking for, or making what you find to be what you are looking for (seen most baldly in "Piltdown Man").

    The "scientific" assumption error has been enshrined by the popular application of "Neanderthal" to characterize someone as "subhuman". Archaeological evidences indicate Neanderthals were human and had human intelligence, engaged in human differentiating activities (toolmaking, ceremonies, religious activities) and interacted with (other) humans.

    If you look at "classic Nordic" facial features in profile Neanderthal elements, contradictory to assigned "Homo Sapiens" features, although modified by mixture with other human feature varieties, are visually evident: Back-sloping brow, for example (instead of vertically rising), heavy and prominent eyebrow ridges, prominent cheekbones, etc. For example, Google for a profile picture of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). Also see Albrecht Durer's study drawings of variant Germanic human facial features. Many he selected to draw evidence distinctively "Neanderthal" features.

    Most who have scientifically, and independently, reviewed the science of the 19th century and "Neanderthal Man" evidences (Creationists and religious scientists are alike in locking to their learnt beliefs) have anticipated that DNA evidences would/will proof Homo Neanderthalis not a hominid sub-species, but a component of Modern Human (Homo Presumptuous) ancestry.

    1. Re:Neanderthal=Nordic by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Neandertals have been shuffled around considerably since the 19th century. In the 19th century they were viewed as an apeman. By the 1960s they were generally classified as simply a variety of H. sapiens. By the 1980s as some molecular data became available they were again shuffled out of H. sapiens into their own species. I have yet to see that changed. That two members of the same genus can interbreed is not an argument in and of itself for them to be the same species.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:Neanderthal=Nordic by randyleepublic · · Score: 0

      Jorma Kaukonen is the King of the Neanderthals.

      --
      Social Credit would solve everything...
    3. Re:Neanderthal=Nordic by osu-neko · · Score: 1

      It doesn't really matter anyway. Anyone who gets hung up on the question is fundamentally misunderstanding what it means. It's like arguing whether Pluto is a planet or not. There's no fact of the matter -- it's a question of what common convention all scientists ought to agree upon in their use of language. Any time you start labeling things like species or planets, you're inventing a means of classifying things, and it's ultimately arbitrary, although important that a consensus is reached on a common convention for usage so that people in the field can communicate on the subject unambiguously.

      Regardless of what genetic, morphological, or other evidence that may come to light, whether Neanderthals are H. neanderthalensis or H. sapiens neanderthalensis is not a fact of nature but simply a convention for classification.

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
    4. Re:Neanderthal=Nordic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah and that 19th Century thinking included measuring skull formations to test for psychiatric abilities and ailments, and 'breeding the black' out of people. I'm sure that went down well with people of various ethnic groups that were labelled and demonised accordingly.

      Fortunately, these kinds of false premises paved the way to an understanding that race is a myth, and ethnicity is a gray area of recent and relatively meaningless extraction. All hail the null hypothesis.

  17. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    Morphologically there were considerable differences. Just because two species can interbreed does not make them the same. You would indeed know if a Neandertal was sitting across from you on the bus. I'm not saying he would be any less human, but this isn't the very minor genetic differences one finds between, say, an Amerindian and a San bushman. There may be Neandertal genes in everyone but sub-Saharan Africans, but all in all, humans are still a very closely related group, more closely related, for instance than some chimp populations are to each other.

    It still leaves a lot of behavioral questions wide open. For instance, Neandertals basically kept the same toolkits for hundreds of thousands of years, maintaining the unimaginably slow pace of innovation that previous hominids were noted for. It was Cro-Magnon and related modern populations that pushed out of Africa around 60,000 years ago and within 50,000 years had pretty much reached every continent except Africa that brought with them the extraordinary advances, not just in tools, but in cultural trapping. Neandertals in Europe only began to respond to this technological revolution at the very end of their tenure. This suggests a very large cognitive and behavioral gap. Some seem to think it's language, that Neandertals, whatever their brain size might have been, lacked fully modern linguistic capabilities, and thus cultural transmission was limited and slow, whereas the moderns that flooded the Old World, and eventually the New World, had a neural skill package far beyond what Neandertals could hope to compete with.

    Now it surely doesn't surprise me that there was some interbreeding going on. The one thing humans are noted for is screwing as often as possible, and it there was thousands of years of interaction between the two species, so it was probably prolonged, though the lack of mtDNA genes suggests that we're not talking about a constant screw-fest, and maybe there was enough distance that successful interbreeding was not all that common, but common enough to leave a mark in our genome.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  18. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 1

    JOf course phisical anthropology makes a distinction. Just watch Bones or read a paper: you can divide caucasian, asian, african. It's like red, green and blue: you have those 3, and infinite colors in the middle. And red is not "better" than violet or pink.
        There is no problem with races, the problem arises when one race is arbitrarily defined as being "better" than others. Also, there are no strict bounds, just like you can't draw a line between red and pink.

    Well, that's one problem. The other problem is the idea that those three groups are the "natural" divisions, the way red, green, and blue are the natural primary colors (for human eyes, anyway.) The primary colors are dictated by our visial anatomy; racial classifications have no such biological basis. In fact you can make both anatomical and genetic arguments for the existence of anywhere from two to several tens of racial groups, and none of these distinctions is any more valid than any other.

    Or to put it more simply, the three-races idea can be neatly disposed of with one word: "India."

    --
    The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
  19. They walk among us by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This has been "obvious" for quite some time.

    Take a look at NBA player Jason Kidd. Anyone with a brow ridge like THAT has got to be at least 50% Neanderthal.

  20. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Intropy · · Score: 1

    Human refers to the members of the genus homo. Homo neanderthalensis are in that genus and therefore definitely human. It doesn't come up very often because there is only one extant human species, homo sapiens. There is debate as to whether neanderthals are properly their own species of human, homo neanderthalensis, or actually just a different subspecies, homo sapiens neanderthalensis vs homo sapeins sapiens. Without reading TFA, assuming that the summary is precise in saying that "conclude that this haplotype is present because of mating between our ancestors and Neanderthals," then if the research is correct that would pretty much decide the issue in favor of the single-species two-subspecies hypothesis.

  21. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by FoolishOwl · · Score: 0

    Apparently whether they are classified as Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis is still debated by anthropologists. Neanderthal: Classification

    I'd say, given that they were at least very similar to modern humans and there was at least some interbreeding, that it's easiest to just call them humans,

  22. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 0

    s/JOf/Of and s/visial/visual/, of course. Grrr arrgh. With all the rounds of needless "improvements" /. has made to the interface recently, couldn't they find time to put in some kind of editing function -- say, posts would be editable until someone replies to or moderates them? Please?

    --
    The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
  23. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    Taxonomy is about description and cataloguing. Biology is much much larger than that.

    As to the "stronger" thing. I have no idea what you mean. Certainly there physiological differences. Modern humans are presumed to have had much higher endurance than Neandertals, who had a body much more built for a cold climate, and had shorter legs. Physically one would presume Neandertals were stronger, but moderns' greater range certainly would give them substantial edge at hunting, not to mention a larger access to a wider gene pool.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  24. Devo had it right... by zoid.com · · Score: 1

    "God made man
    But he used the monkey to do it
    Apes in the plan
    We're all here to prove it
    I can walk like an ape
    Talk like an ape
    Do what a monkey can do
    God made man
    But a monkey supplied the glue"

    -Devo

  25. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    No it wouldn't. There are numerous examples of interbreeding between closely related species. Interbreeding is not the definitive answer as to whether two species can interbreed or not. If it was, there would be no such species as a polar bear, and yet clearly, based on behavior and environment, polar bears are more than just a subspecies of brown bear.

    When we talk about Neandertals, we're talking about a hominid that separated from our African ancestors and lived largely in isolation for several hundred thousand years, and retained robustness lost in modern humans, not to mention evolving considerable morphological differences.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  26. Of course not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Justifying superiority is easy. Just latch on to any arbitrary characteristic that differentiates you from your target, and proclaim that the expression you have of this characteristic is automatically superior than any other expression.

    Often, you can find several of these.

  27. obligatory Dave Chappele quote by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Keep fucking with these humans if you want to, MORE MONKEY PUSSY FOR ME!!!

  28. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by CastrTroy · · Score: 1
    I thought the definition of species was

    a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring

    . So if humans and neanderthals could in fact interbreed, then wouldn't they be the same species? Were they any further apart than pygmys and tall white europeans? I would think that if neanderthals had survived to this day, they would have all the same rights as the rest of humans, and probably be considered human.

    --

    Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
  29. Not necessarily by Michael+Woodhams · · Score: 2

    It could be a merger, it could be a little bit of gene flow followed by extinction. The data don't say.

    A previous result suggested non-African humans have about 4% of their genome descended from Neandertals. For the sake of argument, I'll take that as a fact.

    Merger scenario: a big wave of modern humans flow into Neandertal territory, outnumbering them by about 25 to one. They all form one big happy interbreeding population, soon forming a uniform gene pool which is about 4% Neandertal, reflecting the original population proportion, and then go on to colonize the rest of the planet.

    Genocide/extinction scenario: Big bad Modern hunts down and kills the poor Neandertals, raping the women as they go. Some of the half-breeds integrate into the Modern population and leave descendants, but the purebred Neandertals all die on the end of a spear. Despite a Modern population rather smaller than the Neandertal population, in the end we have only Moderns left with only 4% of the genes coming from the once more populous Neandertal, and the non-meek inherit the earth.

    I suppose we could even go for:
    Neandertal conquest scenario: Once upon a time there was a large population of peaceful Moderns. The nasty Neandertals fell upon them like a wolf upon the fold, killed all the men and kept the women for their pleasure. The resulting society had a small number of master race Neandertals ruling the Modern peons. But due to the Modern women being hotter than the Neandertals*, the Neandertal bloodline was quickly diluted until they were indistinguishable from the slaves. It is because we lack our Master Race rulers that we're in such a mess today.
    * Ask anyone you know, they'll agree on this. That proves it!

    Note that I've presented exaggerated scenarios for dramatic effect - do not assume they represent my personal opinions. As presented, my genocide scenario does not explain why we see no Neandertal mitochondrial DNA in present populations, but it could be tweaked to account for that.

    --
    Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
    1. Re:Not necessarily by chanchao · · Score: 0

      Could it be a combination of all of the above? Especially to prehistoric man (using the term man loosely) there will have been many different habitats, some of which led to competing for resources, others to 'teaming up' and/or interbreeding.

      It turns into one big soup to the point where all that's left is 'modern' man with a small bit of genetic baggage brought into the mix.

      I don't think current sense of 'good vs evil' or 'aggressive/conquering' vs 'peaceful and innocent' really applies. Both groups may have included tribes that were one or the other for some amount of time.

      This is not an event were talking about, but an incredibly long process.

      Questions I have left: I recall that Australian aboriginals (and pacific islanders perhaps) originated from an earlier migration out of Africa. Do these peoples have the Neanderthal genes or not? And if they do, at which point did they acquire them.. Note that you can acquire genes without mating with an actual full blooded Neanderthal.

    2. Re:Not necessarily by Michael+Woodhams · · Score: 1

      Yes, combinations of the above are most likely. Like I said, I was deliberately playing up stereotypes.

      Yes, the purported Neandertal gene has been found in Australians (I read the paper.)

      No, the Polynesian pacific islanders are not closely related to Australians - linguistic and genetic evidence places their origin in southern Taiwan. I think New Guinea has relatives of the Australians.

      --
      Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
  30. If race is a social construct... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Hmmm, does this mean Neanderthals are a social construct too? Help me out guys, I need to fit these scientific findings into my egalitarian political views.

    1. Re:If race is a social construct... by coldsalmon · · Score: 1

      My school's slogan for spirit week was "dinosaurs are a social construct." It's true!

    2. Re:If race is a social construct... by osu-neko · · Score: 1

      Hmmm, does this mean Neanderthals are a social construct too? Help me out guys, I need to fit these scientific findings into my egalitarian political views.

      All classification systems are social constructs. There's no "fact of the matter" on where lines should be drawn between species than there is for where the lines should be drawn between which objects orbiting the Sun are planets. There's a physical fact that lumps of rock (or whatever material) orbit the Sun, but "planets" are social constructs, and if the astronomical society changes its mind, suddenly there are more or less of them, because "planet" was always just a social construct, not a fact of nature. Neanderthals are, likewise, a social construct.

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  31. Loose Lucy by retroworks · · Score: 2

    I read on a cave wall somewhere that it was one particular, and really hot, Neanderthal chick, "Loose Lucy", who the Neanderthal gene dates back to. Her kids really got around.

    --
    Gently reply
    1. Re:Loose Lucy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now I finally have an explanation for my ex.

    2. Re:Loose Lucy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Once you've had Neanderthal you won't miss your man at all.

      Get me some 'Thal, baby.

    3. Re:Loose Lucy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be thinking of Daryl Hannah. Her Neanderthal adoptive family pitied her for being so ugly in Clan of the Cave Bear. She was a misplaced Cro Magnon though.

  32. Re:Ironic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hope you're trolling, cause if not you're really stupid. The 3/5ths compromise wasn't a declaration of "how human" slaves were -- if anything, you'd have to say it was about "how much of a citizen", but it's not really that either.

    Note that the Northern states wanted slaves _not_ to count, while Southern states wanted them _to_ count, exactly the opposite of the "3/5th human" notion. In reality, it was just a compromise over political power -- Northern states with few slaves would gain power (in the house of representatives, specifically) if slaves weren't counted, and Southern states with lots of slaves would gain power if slaves were counted. Neither would voluntarily submit, so they worked out a compromise that left them all feeling they had an acceptable share of power.

    If it were some moral argument about ensuring slaves were/weren't fairly represented, there'd have been something in there about letting them vote -- increasing the effective voting power of their masters would be exactly the wrong thing.

  33. Virus ruled out? by dilvish_the_damned · · Score: 1

    Is there some reason why this could not have happened by way of a virus?

    --
    I think you underestimate just how much I just dont care.
    1. Re:Virus ruled out? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is there some reason why this could not have happened by way of a virus?

      yea a black virus

  34. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Except, you are full of crap. Homo Sapiens Sapiens also were quite content with the Mousterian toolkit and no artwork in the modern sense for tens of thousands of years. Just because modern humans had the cultural revolution and Neanderthals didn't does not mean they were incapable. And besides, assuming we can get any real grasp on the complexity of very ancient cultures based on their lithics technology is INCREDIBLY shortsited. It is tantamount ot saying we could understand today's cultures based on some screwdrivers and a hammer.

    Also, in the presence of a much larger population, a smaller mtDNA line will be completely swamped and die out after a very small number of generations. A similar phenomenon is well-documented by genealogists in patrilineal naming conventions - less common names tend to die out more quickly and everyone eventually ends up being named "Smith". For some reason, paleogeneticists always seem to ignore this fact.

    YIAAA (Yes I am an archaeologist)

  35. So..... by mcphja2 · · Score: 0

    Will the academics who were run out of academia and called racist for hypothesizing the same thing be getting their jobs back? I had a physical anthropology professor at UCB whose classes were regularly disrupted by protesters (as usual, many non-students), in the 1980s for teaching this exact theory. He, and many others were called racist for failure to preach the "out of Africa" orthodoxy, and were forced out.

    1. Re:So..... by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 1

      I had a physical anthropology professor at UCB whose classes were regularly disrupted by protesters (as usual, many non-students), in the 1980s for teaching this exact theory. He, and many others were called racist for failure to preach the "out of Africa" orthodoxy, and were forced out.

      This discovery does nothing to dispute the "out of Africa" theory, for which there is ample evidence to date.

  36. Why should it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is claimed to be scientific evidence that furthers the genetic distance between Africans and others. If I were a white supremacist (which I am not), I would be drooling over this.

  37. Re:Ironic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Property rights haven't been the same since.

  38. Black & White is an anti-racist construct by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    It is good to be racist, because you acknowledge the good of populations being isolated to speciate thereby assuring they each have unique bodily advantages to repel disease and develop differing cultures, but that goes out the window when the retards of the world bring HATE into the mix.

    When species inter-mix, this is what tampers their DNA to either leucistic or albino phases of their genome to manifest in what many call as Black & White characteristics. This was first observed in ancient Canaan where the original Judahites displaced the North Africans (voodoo/druidic, Yew), and then the Ashkenazim (mongol Asiatic) arrived to fold into what became known as Afro-Asiatic that doesn't resemble Israel and neiter Judah, yet their mixing has effected the melanin production in their skin and how their metabolism hangs fat from their bodies to what is presently mistakenly referred to as "characteristic."

    Skin naturally is supposed to darken as it absorbs valuable nutrition from the sun and mediate between damage of over-exposure, while the skin will return to normal levels based on it's environment and never to "burn." Evidence of this proves that Black men can't live in a prison climate because they require not less than 5 hours of daily sunlight or their bones and immune system weaken, while a White only needs 30 minutes of exposure to sunlight and not more. In this regard, we can see that Black & White is a "nom de guerre" created to culturally unbalance two separate regions in the name of government and religion. The question is who caused this speciation based on mere color-blindedness? I believe it was the anti-racists that did it, because only someone that shallow could ever think to prosecute racism as to conceal the elimination of neighboring cultures by painting them two colors rather than the colors of the rainbow that make them so beautiful and unique. In this regard, is to weaken an entire planet, but in terms of purity what you see is that the advocacy of multi-culturalism in itself is good except for the part where the perverts say that you should dis-respect the lineage of ancestry that brought your neighbor to present form.

    Who benefits by race-mixing? In all regards, government and religion benefit: it's a power grab to mediate between differences -- perpetually. It's a live-stock tag forever placed on your children, not recognizing them as the contributions of two supplementary parents but forever dis-allowing the union by governmental "conditions." Religion too achieves this by rendering sinful nature and guilt onto the matter by declaration rather than fact, because the truth of the matter is all law is a matter of religion while government was brought to help the declared "criminal" to measure-up with the image of man that the subject supposedly doesn't meet.

    Every culture is relative, and the only one's that benefit from the civil war of reproduction is the one culture that demands honoring their interpretartion of events by seniorage. Much of Hollywood advocates stereotypes and race-mixing as consequence of daily activities to encoursage harm because such marriage was intended to destroy the more scholastic cultures in competition with the event used to dominate the world in the cruel God-complex that differentiates between inferior and superior: commerce, and all sources point to the jews as being the most race-mixed culture that alone used it's cunning interpretive logic to convince all the world that they are the purer of race-mixers only fit to rule the world through inheritance of their parents coming together, meanwhile original races are looked upon as the unenlighted feudal hosts that never gave such cruel notion as what their wayward children erected in hatered.

    1. Re:Black & White is an anti-racist construct by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To me Black & White is a quite good blended whisky, although I prefer Glen Deveron :):)

  39. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    I'm well aware there were anatomically modern humans who had Mousterian toolkits. But the guys that came rushing out of Africa into Europe, Asia and Australia sure the hell were beyond that. The evidence, if you're an archaeologist you will know, for any kind of ritualism among Neandertals amounts to what, one or two finds, and interpretation is nowhere near universal.

    Beyond that only at the tail end of Neandertal's time after thousands of years around HSS did it's toolkit show much advancement. One would think if it's cognitive capabilities were the same as the Cro Magnons it would have been a helluva lot faster.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  40. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by DemonGenius · · Score: 1

    Or to put it more simply, the three-races idea can be neatly disposed of with one word: "India."

    I read a book that sheds some light on this... this one. Basically, a long time ago, there were people from Africa that couldn't exactly be classified as "black" in the way that we are familiar today. These people migrated to and from Africa at differing points in history and to different places. The further they migrated, the more separated they were from the original people from Africa. The closer they settled, the more they tended to retain the features of the original people due to increased exposure to one another. This can probably explain how Indians are dark, yet many have straight hair like Orientals (some coarse and wavy), and how Greeks have bronze skin with typically curly or wavy hair.

    Putting Neanderthals in the mix (not discussed in the book), can probably explain the emergence of Caucasian people in Europe (and possibly Orientals in Asia) due to the fact that mating with a different species is likely to produce some immediately apparent mutation such as low pigmentation (As a side note supporting this theory, given the effects of the sun's rays, light pigmentation isn't likely to be something that would evolve naturally over time). Inter-mating between these people outside of Africa could be responsible for the many variations that we have seen emerge in Europe and Asia. Meanwhile, Africans who have never left the continent, could have simply continued to evolve within the same conditions.

    This makes an interesting point apparent to me. One race of people may have "superior" genes, but their evolution could be stunted by not changing their environment for thousands of years. Likewise, other races of people may have "inferior" genes, but have learned to evolve in a more variable and challenging environment. However, all of this is moot in the present given the technology that we have today that enables us to fly halfway across the world within hours to meet and mate with people with varying genetic stock; and also the technology which enables us to learn anything that anyone else in the world can learn. The only thing separating us now is the existence of affluence and freedom of association, since nowadays, this is what basically allows people of differing races to interact with each other, especially in North America and Europe. This also means that it is not conducive to human evolution to separate each other by race just because one group thinks they are better than the other.

  41. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Roachie · · Score: 1

    Ha! Dr. Freud, please call your office.

    --
    This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
  42. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by rubycodez · · Score: 1

    you can divide caucasian, asian, african.

    If you're going to go by the old (and obsolete and disproved) definitions of race by physical anthropology, there would be five races. Two african ones, Congoid and Negroid; and the Australoid race.

  43. Less alone by Hyperhaplo · · Score: 1

    I feel so much less alone now..

    In other news, it appears that The Doctor was right.. except not just in the centuries ahead... the human race will bonk anything.. anytime.. anywhere..

    --
    You have a sick, twisted mind. Please subscribe me to your newsletter.
    1. Re:Less alone by osu-neko · · Score: 1

      I feel so much less alone now..

      In other news, it appears that The Doctor was right.. except not just in the centuries ahead... the human race will bonk anything.. anytime.. anywhere..

      Of course. Puritanism was always just a passing fad. Neither the long past nor the long future should be expected to conform to its absurd values.

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  44. We already knew this! by MaxToTheMax · · Score: 1

    This information (that non-African populations have some Neanderthal DNA) was in the textbook for the Anthropology class I took last semester. The textbook is Our Origins: Discovering Physical Anthropology (second edition.) If I had more time I'd look up the chapter and see what source they cite.

    1. Re:We already knew this! by MaxToTheMax · · Score: 1

      That being said, there's nothing wrong with confirming existing scientific data with more studies-- but this is not a "new" discovery.

    2. Re:We already knew this! by osu-neko · · Score: 1

      This information (that non-African populations have some Neanderthal DNA) was in the textbook for the Anthropology class I took last semester.

      Well, yes, but you've just summarized the paper in question sufficiently generally to exclude what's new in it.

      That being said, there's nothing wrong with confirming existing scientific data with more studies...

      This is new data, not confirmation of existing data, but it does indeed confirm an already existing theory that already had some other evidence for it.

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
    3. Re:We already knew this! by jimnorcal · · Score: 1

      This news was already noted some time back. I recall reading about it online somewhere and this was new news at the time (within the last year, maybe two at most). I recall the whole story about how neanderthal dna was found in all people of european and asian decent but not in any african people.

  45. Neanderthal intelligence. by Chris+Gunn · · Score: 1
    Culture is strongly related to population density. I read Neanderthals required about 7500 cal per day diet (compared to 1500 cal or so). This tells us an area of land can only support a fraction the amount of Neanderthals compared to modern Humans (1/5th?). This suggests they had a fraction of the culture, given equal intelligence.

    As for Neanderthals remaining static, their toolkit changed a lot in Italy.

    Consider isolated low population density modern human populations. We "lost" the use of fire in Tasmania and some (one?) of the Andaman islands. Even some Homo Erectus had the use of fire, not to mention huts/shelters with piles.

    Given the Neanderthal's lack of population density, I argue that to have maintained their level of culture, they were smarter than modern humans.

    1. Re:Neanderthal intelligence. by modmans2ndcoming · · Score: 1

      you have no evidence that such things did not happen in Neanderthal populations that were isolated as well (Neanderthal populations did in fact interact)

      I would love to see a study that at least correlates abstract thinking to population density. I doubt you will find one.

    2. Re:Neanderthal intelligence. by jon_doh2.0 · · Score: 1

      This is a very interesting and novel (to me) line of reasoning. Thanks.

  46. Neanderthal = Conan by Tempest451 · · Score: 1

    Larger, more muscular, more pronounce brow http://moviecarpet.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/connan.jpg Seems right to me.

  47. Let me be the first by dutchwhizzman · · Score: 1

    To welcome our new Neandertahl overlords

    --
    I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
  48. Don't forget about Denisova Hominin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The Neanderthals are not the only one having descendants roaming the earth today.

    Do not forget the Denisova Hominin, however.

    They too have descendants - in the form of the Pacific Islanders.

    Next time you look at a Hawaiian (or Fijian or Indonesian) wondering why they look weird, it's in the genes.

    1. Re:Don't forget about Denisova Hominin by jon_doh2.0 · · Score: 1

      You probably mean Melanesians, who populated South East Asia and the South Pacific earliest. The ancestors of Hawaiians, etc, migrated over to SE Asia at a much later period and are descended from ancestors shared, more generically, with other Asian populations (and, as such, probably have evidence of the Neanderthal haplotype, that supposedly marks out all non-sub Saharan Africans).

      If you think Hawaiian (or Fijian or Indonesian) look weird, its probably because you're a small minded fool, who, like all parochial racist half-wits, reads far to much significance into trivial and shallow phenotypical differences.

      And, surprise surprise, like all of the racist posters to Slashdot, has neither the balls not to post as AC, as he knows his views are outmoded and is ashamed of himself/afraid of the reactions of others, nor does he have the force of mind to rationally address his own personal biases. In short he is a cowardly and weak-minded simpleton.

  49. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by sFurbo · · Score: 1

    As a side note supporting this theory, given the effects of the sun's rays, light pigmentation isn't likely to be something that would evolve naturally over time)

    Avoiding chronic vitamin D deficiency is a pretty good reason to evolve light pigmentation. It is all fine and good as long as you are somewhere sunny, but up here in the cold, dark north, you need all the vitamin D you can get, to hell with skin cancer. Of course, farther north, the thinner ozone layer pushes towards darker pigmentation again.

  50. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think the most interesting difference is that their children appeared to mature faster than ours, taking only 11 years to become fully-grown.

    "Fully Grown" doesn't mean what you think it does. We measure "growth" by looking at the merging of the bone plates and changes to the muscle and bone structure caused by puberty.
    If we apply the same set of criteria to modern humans, they would be considered to be "fully grown" between the ages of 10 and 13 for females, and 12-15 for males... and I'll also note that lately people have been having fits because girls are starting to mature earlier.

  51. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ask which one a woman would preffer as a partner and you have your answer.

  52. Our DNA? "Modern Man" but not Africans? by theNAM666 · · Score: 1

    Oh, NOTHING racist in the OP. Nothing at all.
    *barf*

  53. Did you warn them!! by sirlark · · Score: 1
  54. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It should be noted that both Homo Sapiens and Neanderthalis evolved in Africa, and Neanderthalis left Africa first, with Cro-Magnon not being a seperate species from Sapiens but rather a period in our cultural history defined by a change in artefacts or procedures in tool making. The Cro-Magnon period began before the first intra Africa (and then outra-Africa) migration c.70,000 years ago. By that point, the proto-language and culture for which all humans descend existed.

    Oh, and don't you love it how Homo Erectus and Homo Habilis were migratory as well? We just can't keep still can we.

  55. Evolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It is called evolution. Read up on it.

  56. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by osu-neko · · Score: 1

    So if humans and neanderthals could in fact interbreed, then wouldn't they be the same species? ... I would think that if neanderthals had survived to this day, they would have all the same rights as the rest of humans, and probably be considered human.

    Any member of the genus Homo is human, just not all the same species of human. As for neanderthals, whether they deserve their own species or are just a subspecies (H. neanderthalensis vs. H. sapiens neanderthalensis) is an open question, although when I studied anthropology in college, the professor was of the opinion they were a subspecies, and implied that the majority of anthropologists were in the latter camp.

    --
    "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  57. I thought we already knew this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This definitely isn't news... Is it? I remember reading about all of this months ago, regarding papers that were published... at least a year before that.

  58. It's the "Logic Gene" by howzit · · Score: 1

    I'm from Southern Africa (Swaziland) and this is something we've always wondered about. Why do people from this part of the world struggle to apply simple logic to a situation? Now that this has come out, it's logical!

  59. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by KillaBeave · · Score: 1

    Exactly, "better" is is only relevant when measured against a specific yardstick. For example, being short is "better" if you value fitting in sports cars, being tall is "better" if you want to play basketball. Having dark skin is "better" if you live in an area with very high UV exposure, having light skin is "better" if you live in a place that is cloudy/rainy 6 months out of the year.

    Almost any non-superficial difference is "better" than another given a certain context (and vice-versa). The problem of racism arises when people just focus on the "better" and ignore the context. The problem of political correct idiocy arises when any differences that could be construed as "better" are thrown out, context be damned.

    (The latter is probably the lesser of two evils though.)

  60. Re:Ironic by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 1

    Very good point, I would just like to add that the 3/5 was about increasing the voting power of slave owners. So, if the constitution had been written the way those who now use the 3/5 number as an indication of racism would like, slavery would likely still exist in this country (the slave owners might have had enough political power to expand slavery and prevent the things that lead them to seccede).

    --
    The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
  61. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Perhaps they had a word of mouth religion that forbade any tools other then those approved by the rock God "Thud". Would seem to explain the lack of tool development much as how the Catholic church set us back by 400 years of science development.

  62. Possible? by Sqreater · · Score: 1

    Can it be that instead of having interbred, we merely share a common distant ancestor?

    --
    E Proelio Veritas.
    1. Re:Possible? by luis_a_espinal · · Score: 1

      Can it be that instead of having interbred, we merely share a common distant ancestor?

      In that case, the genes would also be found in the "African" populations. Since that is not the case (according to the findings), then the most pausible alternative is that indeed, there was interbreeding between out-of-Africa H. Sapiens and H. Neanderthalis (most likely very early on in the H. Sapiens expansion out of Africa.)

    2. Re:Possible? by Sqreater · · Score: 1

      Not if they did not share the same common ancestor.

      --
      E Proelio Veritas.
  63. its called rape and kidnapping by decora · · Score: 1

    although some people enjoy calling it "merging" and "assimilation"

  64. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by elsurexiste · · Score: 1

    Take into account you have monkey genes, or even virus genes. That doesn't make them human.

    Btw, it raises the question, not begs the question. ;)

    --
    I rarely respond to comments. Also, don't ask for clarifications: a brain and Google are faster, believe me!
  65. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My understanding was that for a group of (sexually reproducing) individuals to be considered a separate species from another the two cannot create viable offspring (mules aren't considered viable as they are sterile, so horses and donkeys are still considered different species). If humans have neanderthal DNA, and the conclusion is that interbreeding put it there, then the two are simply sub-species of the same species.

  66. OK, so this isn't evolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If this is the case, then how exactly did homo sapiens evolve from them. Shouldn't we all have that gene if that's where we came from?

  67. Men vs women by TuringCheck · · Score: 1

    I guess the lack of Neanderthal mDNA shows that the chances of a male H. Neanderthal mating with a female H. Sapiens were much higher than the opposite. Anyone surprised?

    1. Re:Men vs women by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But the genes in TFA were found in the X chromosomes. Which means daddy convinced some groom to marry Lil' Yak, probably by applying reason and a large rock.

  68. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by noodler · · Score: 1

    "Like the homosapiens are more intelligent (by a large margin) and the neanderthals are stronger (by a large margin)."

    This doesn't seem to be the case (at least, not by a large margin).
    There are homo sapiens that are stronger than the average neanderthaler and there is enough evidence to suggest there were neanderthalers smarter than the average homo sapiens.
    So there realy is a large overlap and it may be due to culture alone, or due to agressiveness or another slight hormonal imbalance that homo sapiens got the upper hand.
     

  69. Neanderthal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, this finally explains about all the politicians in Washington and why they cannot get it together.

  70. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So.. Just how "different" are/were they? It sounds to me like we are calling neanderthals non homosapiens when in reality they are no more different from us than say a tall blond Scandinavian is from a short Asian.. Or a chihuahua from a great dane.

    Obviously they aren't far enough from human to prevent procreation, which also means that they are to be considered the same species.

  71. DNA from Africa not found in Africans? by steak · · Score: 1

    the mind fairly boggles.

    lol

  72. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Neanderthals are human. They are of the species Homo sapiens. They are Homo sapiens neandertalensis, while we are Homo sapiens sapiens. They're considered a different subspecies.

  73. here's the truth by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Modern day jews are the descendants of Neanderthals. Modern day Aryans (whites) are the descendants of CroMagnons. Niggers are a kind of monkey, and always have been.

    And yes, I'm white, I AM a racist, and I'm proud of it. Race is reality, and racism is truth. So what else you got?

  74. Interbreeding is problematical by Sqreater · · Score: 1

    I have a problem with the interbreeding of neanderthals and sapiens. It is this. Children need years of care to survive and pass on their genes. What did sapiens guy do to support this?? Did he bring his ugly, mentally challenged pregnant neanderthal female home to his sapiens village amd the open loving arms of his community? Not likely. Did he live with the neanderthals? Not likely. That leaves rape of neanderthal women who bore and raised the resulting child under the protection of the neanderthal group. Not likely. So, what exactly is the mechanism of this so-called interbreeding?

    --
    E Proelio Veritas.
    1. Re:Interbreeding is problematical by Sqreater · · Score: 1

      Seems it would have to be Neanderthals capturing Sapiens women.

      --
      E Proelio Veritas.
  75. pink by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It all pink inside,my pecker has always been color blind. lol lol

  76. Hmm this make for a good theory. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    X Chromosome that would mean that mitochondrial Eve in non Africans was a Neanderthal. Now we can explain Teabaggers! Yes evolution makes sense.

  77. lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    science +1
    religion -1

    www.theblurredchronicles.com

  78. DNA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Back when all this occurred (way before the invent and use of soaps, deodorants, perfumes and other such products masking our senses), humanities ancestors had a way better developed olfactory they relied on for hunting, gathering and obviously they all smelled estrous and I'm sure acted befitting to the need of procreation and its excitement taken in through smell. Folks we are animals, just because we think we are better than animals, it doesn't mean we aren't animals, revel in it. Though all the other animals combined do less to the ruination of our planet than we "the smart ones" do.

  79. Neanderthal Genes Found In All Non-African Populat by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ha, ha! The longer the world goes on, the more ridiculous the claims of the "evolutionists" persist! Sometimes I think that God is perhaps allowing these fools who deny His existence to just go on with their silly, "discoveries" that maybe one day they will read Genesis 1 and conclude that God does indeed exist and has created the universe, including them!

  80. Neanderthal DNA in humans by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think it explains a lot.

  81. Definitely some Neanderthal Genes still around by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My grandfather was what they termed freakishly strong. He took a pair of 6'+ German MPs and bloodied them up so bad they had to be carried out in stretchers and they were asking where the weapon was. My dad to this day has higher than average bone density, they did it last a couple of years back when he was like 45 and said it was better than the majority of 20 year olds they have come in and is very barrel chested and we have a mix of genetics so it is hard to tell exactly where it came from, but a mix of english, irish, german. I personally have broken at least one tire iron and have only known a handful of people that could best me in an arm wrestling match and normally people who work in manual labor(carpenter) or who are far larger than myself and I hardly get a chance to work out. So again there is definitely some Neanderthal genetics still running around.

  82. our missrable pasty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    how could the last dinosoar neanderthal human die out thirty thousand years ago when the universe is only a few thousand years old ,people walked with dinosoars the bones of dinosaurs are evrywhere early humans had them for pets ,what you going to believe your bible or some forced educated atheist lie, your not forced into gods house ,only uncle sams house you must be in person or pay the consecuenses of a hell of legal lies

  83. Evolution beyond variations within species is dumb by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Neanderthals were humans, simple as that. Very strong men with super human strength. The lived about 200 to 300 years of age. They weren't 30,000 years old, that is ridiculous. And how were these guys dated? The earth they were buried in? lol. Lucy was NOT a human, we know that. She was a small ape that lived in the trees. The human feet they put on her does not make her human. Her angled leg bone is not a human characteristic, only a tree climbing ape. Come on guys, let's get real here. Why not bring up the Nebraska man or Piltdown man and not just Lucy to make a point here. lol. Let's find a cave where a bunch of monkeys fossils are and then ignore the human fossils that ate them and call them the "Missing link and tell everyone that monkeys used tools." lol.

  84. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Intropy · · Score: 1

    Members of different but related species can mate and produce offspring, but they cannot produce produce both male and female offspring that are fertile. For a sexually reproducing organism, that's the definition of species. The article talks about modern humans, which clearly have fertile males and females, having neanderthal genes coming from neanderthal ancestors. That implies that neanderthals and sapiens interbred and produced fertile offspring, which implies they are the same species. In your polar bear example, if polar bears and some species of brown bears can interbreed and produce fertile males and fertile females, that too would imply they are the same species irrespective of "behavior and environment."

  85. my neandertha;l nose by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    no sexual taboos like humans every body forched it was the neaderthal way.

  86. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    From what I understand paleontologists love balling each other out over this sort of things.

    I think you mean they bawl each other out. Unless you are suggesting that questions in paleontology are settled with basketball games. Which might explain a few things.

  87. Neanderthal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is the abbreviation for Neanderthal, NEA?

  88. :P by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ooga-booga

  89. Re:Black people score lower on standardized tests by jon_doh2.0 · · Score: 1

    You might find that there were already answers. Such as educational differences, cultural bias, diet/health and well being differences, etc.

  90. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by jon_doh2.0 · · Score: 1

    Yeh, Victorian physical anthropology.

    Just watch some trashy pop detective series or read a paper (a newspaper? anthropology paper? white supremacist propaganda?). Yeh right.

    Three super races, of which everyone else is a variation of, right. Ever heard of clinal variation? Come back when your older.

  91. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by jon_doh2.0 · · Score: 1

    "So if humans and neanderthals could in fact interbreed, then wouldn't they be the same species? "

    Capable of producing offspring is a condition of the category 'species'. This does not exclude the fact that different species can also interbreed.

    "Were they any further apart than pygmys and tall white europeans?"

    Classification of species is based on the study of lineages, not phenotypical differences, which are often quite superficial and controlled for by only subtle genetic differences.

    "and probably be considered human"

    I believe Neanderthals are considered a human species. When people say 'modern humans', they mean Homo Sapiens Sapiens, as opposed to now extinct non-modern humans.

  92. Intermixing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Looks likeits time to reread "Clan of the Cave Bear".

  93. Neanderthal Genes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wouldn't it really be a more sound statement to say that a gene has been discovered that is common to Neanderthals and homo sapiens, that is for some reason, absent in samples found in sub Saharan African samples? There is no statistical sample control to this... ALL conclusions are nothing but speculation, and this is the garbage that drives bad science.

    The truth is, it would be much easier to lose a gene than gain one. A copy or a copy of a copy loses integrity. It doesn't gain. It would be more logical to assume that my Irish and German ancestors lost their pigment (because we are quite pasty and pink) due to lack of exposure to the sun, than it would be to think that our African counterparts somehow mysteriously gained it due to exposure to the sun. (Think about your appendix...)

    So much speculation! So many rash ideas and conclusions from one, teeny tiny, piece of data.

  94. Neanderthal? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Gary Della Bate (however it is spellled), from the Howard Stern Show, is no doubt, a Neanderthal hybrid with very few non-Neanderthalus features. It's all there, and he is a walking specimen and proof.

  95. Want the facts ask Your wife by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank-You for confirming what my wife has said for years --- I am a Neanderthal --

  96. Relieved... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Personally, I am not qualified to speak to this ongoing conversation; however, I am relieved to learn that at least some inter-breeding occurred between Neanderthal (N) and Homo Sapiens (HS). I have seen several HS males (Caucasians) who appeared to have strong N traits; e.g., a short, stocky build with a very pronounced brow ridge, heavy body hair & etc.. My question: With what's been alluded to here, are HS & Cro Magnon (CM) being equated? If not, was there inter-breeding between CM & N or CM & HS?

  97. Old News! by jimnorcal · · Score: 1

    I remember this being mentioned quite some time ago (months? A year or more maybe?). I don't have a link to post but I'm certain this has already been reported; if not by these scientists, then another.

  98. Re:So that begs the question. Are neanderthals hum by bluntos · · Score: 0

    (and biology is more description and cataloging than discovery IMO)

    Hearty belly laugh...... DARWIN (was a biologist)?

    --
    Fnord Fnord Fnord