This article was very interesting to me and I wanted to share it. The upshot is that some scientists think that Neanderthals, a distant relative of humans, may have co-existed with and mated with modern humans in Europe in the very old days. It's also an insight into how slippery the idea of evolution can become.
My favorite part of this article is the carefully posed question: "Is there any evidence that Europeans today carry some Neanderthal genes?"
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I'm sure any European answer to that question will result in a discussion on the migratory nature of Neanderthal's and the idea that if there were any European Neanderthal genes, they emigrated to America.
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More importantly, how will the Europeans react? Do you think the fuss'll interfere will make them cave on important issues?
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John, Dag, no need to fight. You guys should calm down, take a Piltdown--I mean a Miltown
Bunbun, this lice genetics study came out recently: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/10/041005075751.htm It claims that lice genetics show that h. sapiens and other extinct hominids, including Neanderthals, interacted (fought? mated? lived in the same communities?) as recently as 25,000 years ago.
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Cool, Morbo. Thanks for the link. I've been used to thinking about evolution in terms of those nicely organized charts. The lice study paints a much more interesting picture, doesn't it?
Honestly, though, I've been stunned at the level of vitroll this thread has inspired. My husband, Dagonee, a very laid back dude, has been told to Chauvet. The artefact is that I didn't mean for any one to get afarensis about it, but it appears I've caused a rift.
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Choobak, it's worth keeping in mind that not all gene sequences have any phenotypic expression. A great deal of DNA appears to have no specific use. Hypothetically, one could imagine two beings whose "junk DNA" was entirely different, leading to a vast difference between their two genetic codes--yet all their expressed DNA was the same.
Also, I should point out (at the risk of saying something squicky) that we do not really know for certain that we can't interbreed with chimps. (To the best of my knowledge of current research.) Unsurprisingly, few experiments along these lines have been performed.
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But chimpanzees have a different number of chromosomes than humans, 48 to our 46. I don't believe cross-breeding would be possible without genetic manipulation.
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I would think you are right, Rivka....nonetheless I recall seeing articles somewhere about cross-fertilization. Regrettably I do not remember where or how old they were.
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Bun-bun, cute story on your homepage of meeting and courting Dag. Or vice-versa. I think a lot of junk DNA has undiscovered purpose. Labeling it junk just means we haven't discovered the meaning yet.
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*nod* I'm aware of that, rivka. Perhaps "fertilization studies" was not the right term to use. I recall only that the articles were on the possibility of human-chimp interbreeding, and that I think they were relatively recent and in favor (in the sense of it being possible, of course--not desirable).
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Dagonee was remarkably cooperative, I must say, and lucky for me!
The Haussler article is relatively recent, though. I think UCSC's taken concrete steps towards getting past the idea that non-protein generating sequences automatically means "junk." I've been working as a contract manager for a research organization, and the Haussler article was a really big deal this past spring.
quote:The last two posts just should not be adjacent.
Kwea, what were you referring to as the funniest - there's a lot of candidates in the last few posts. Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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The Zona Pellucida is a protein that coats egg cells and prevents sperm from another species from penetrating and donating their DNA to initiate meiosis (While ZP1, ZP2 and ZP3 classes of proteins are common to all mammals, the specific structures are species dependent). This can, however, be removed chemically and then it's open season on egg fertilization, come hamsters, humans, or what have you. Hamster eggs are most often used because they're both well studied and easily harvested. Whether they're easily harvested because they're well studied or vice versa I don't know.
Insert clever pun here -----> <------
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