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DNA From Neanderthal Relative May Shake Up Human Family Tree
sciencehabit writes: In a remarkable technical feat, researchers have sequenced DNA from fossils in Spain that are about 300,000 to 400,000 years old and have found an ancestor—or close relative—of Neanderthals. The nuclear DNA, which is the oldest ever sequenced from a member of the human family, may push back the date for the origins of the distinct ancestors of Neanderthals and modern humans.
Prepare yourself to one day anticipate a conclusion that might be mildly interesting.
Thanks Slashdot! But why didn't you post a story warning us we might someday see this story (about what we might someday know -- about some stuff that happened a million years ago)?
This is a great breakthrough in analyzing ancient human origins. It would be interesting to use this technique to gain more insight on the origins and migration patterns of early north and south american populations. The Bearing Sea land bridge and south american sea voyage origins are still very confusing and incomplete.
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There may be another Bush in there...
Impossible, those neanderthal guys were resourceful and intelligent.
This is some of the coolest scientific research being conducted in the world. A new record for the oldest sequenced human-lineage DNA.
That's not quite how it works.
Species A doesn't suddenly become Species B on a given date; instead specific tribes of Species A may live in a climate where it gets increasingly cold, meaning only those hardiest to cold survive and over a long period of time become Species B. However, other tribes of Species A live where the climate remains warm, has no selection for hardiness against cold (perhaps even a selection against it if the heat easily exhausts them), and remains Species A even while Species B starts thriving.
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Harummph...you could have the Grand Unified Theory of Everything and it still would not explain Donald Trump's hair. My own belief is that it is actually a mutant racoon who whispers stupid nothings into Donald's ear and hence we get his mediagasms.
Predation, disease, socialization skills, and even fertility would play a role in diversifying early tribal groups.
It is correctly reported ubiquitously what the invention of mass travel has done for human populations, but from 5000-3000 BC, the domestication of the horse improved man's ability to move all out of previous proportion.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
And to make it harder, the concept of a species is fluid and artificial. It's not like Homo Neanderthalis just popped up de novo. There were undoubtedly populations of mixed breeds, localized variants and quite possibly early politicians rummaging around the oyster middens. Our fossil record is incredibly incomplete so even small additions to the database are likely to change our views on things dramatically.
Hopefully, as techniques improve we will be able to get more data from older fossils, fossils that are poorly preserved and fossils that are in collections where the curators haven't allowed for destructive sampling. The entire field has benefited enormously from pushing the sequencing technology forward.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
There is no such thing as advanced in evolution as if there is a goal. Evolution is about better fitting to the environment.