Published: 6 May 10 20:26 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20100506-27033.html
For the first time ever, German scientists have drafted a genome sequence for the Neanderthal and believe their results show that the extinct hominid interbred with humans.
External link: Max Planck Institute »
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Your comments about this article:
...and by extension, most Americans too ;-)
(btw, I'm assuming you were joking)
Sounds like BS to me. Except for war fare related rape I doubt if there was much interaction.
If the odds for identical species development appear astronomically out of this world our only other possibility is that Neanderthal and Homo S. shared an identical DNA ancestor. Oops! Now they've gummed up their own "Out of Africa" story.
According to OoA Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens can't be the same species. Unless Homo S./Neanderthal developed outside Africa and then returned and lost it's "Neanderthal" DNA, an idea which also doesn't make much sense but more so than the other requirements of the "Neanderthals and Humans interbreeding" fairytale.
As has been obliquely pointed out in other reports, this story is an indication that the recently popular view that humanity originated in Africa is not exactly true. Neanderthals apparently did not originate in Africa. Meaning the human race had more than one point of origin. Another blow for the truth over the dogma of political correctness?
@ rphillips@windstream.net
@everybody else that doesn't understand genetics
Homo neanderthalensis did originate in Africa. The genetic distinction came from being separated in the european continent for a lengthy period of time. Suggested reference material: World history.
Closely related species can often interbreed, but with mixed results. There is nothing that says the two species could not have breed with successful offspring after europe re-joined the world, so to speak. Suggested reference material: High school biology.
For a genetic timeline, consult this visualization: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/CurratExcoffierNeandethalmtDNA.png
Homo neanderthalensis's population is in light gray, Homo sapiens is in in dark gray, and the black area is where the two populations intermingled. The units are in generations.
For a timeline of general propagation of the Homo family, please see this chart: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Human_spreading_over_history.png
This doesn't damage evolution. It actually re-inforces it.
Dear God, why doesn't anyone pay attention in school anymore.
So...your school taught that Neanderthals were humans. That's interesting. My biology profs were quite distinct in classifying HN as a subspecies or separate species to HS. In non-politically correct biology this classification is an important determinant for genetic transfer and breeding. However your simplistic charts have changed my mind. That tiny bit of DNA differential in this article could only come about via succesful HN/HS breeding. I wonder how much DNA Homo Sapiens shares with drosophilia--60%? How about a banana, about 50%? Must be from interbreeding.
Seriously, my ancestors obviously never shagged Homo Sapiens!
@URsoTolerant - I was dreaming up all sorts of similar possibilities myself, especially wondering why they weren't attributing this to our common ancestor. As I said above, I think it's because it wasn't found in the Africans.
@Der Grenadier aus Aachen - I don't know about Germany, but in America I'm pretty sure that even paying attention won't afford you that kind of education. (I was homeschooled by Christian parents, so I definitely didn't learn any of this in school.) Even if it would, apparently American public schools are for socialization, not learning - especially the learning of science, that's really taboo (especially in the South). And I'm guessing a lot of these posters are from America, since I am and I found this article through a fellow American's Facebook post.