Reconstructing the past
19 07 11 - 14:13
The old narrative was too simple; the new narrative is being formed as they try to assimilate the data:
Some of the human X chromosome originates from Neanderthals and is found exclusively in people outside Africa, according to an international team of researchers led by Damian Labuda of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Montreal and the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center. The research was published in the July issue of Molecular Biology and Evolution.
"This confirms recent findings suggesting that the two populations interbred," says Dr. Labuda. His team places the timing of such intimate contacts and/or family ties early on, probably at the crossroads of the Middle East.
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. Meanwhile, early modern humans left Africa about 80,000 to 50,000 years ago. The question on everyone's mind has always been whether the physically stronger Neanderthals, who possessed the gene for language and may have played the flute, were a separate species or could have interbred with modern humans. The answer is yes, the two lived in close association.
"In addition, because our methods were totally independent of Neanderthal material, we can also conclude that previous results were not influenced by contaminating artifacts," adds Dr. Labuda. - Eureka Alert
This comes on top of other conjectures that run contrary to the normal wisdom:
New research suggests Africa was not the birthplace of the ancestors of monkey, apes and humans as long believed, U.S. scientists say.
Instead, a researcher from the Carnegie Museum of National History in Pittsburgh says, the earliest "anthropoids" colonized Africa from Asia, The Independent reported.
"If our ideas are correct, this early colonization of Africa by anthropoids was a truly pivotal event -- one of the key points in our evolutionary history," says lead researcher Christopher Beard.
Researchers say new fossils found in central Libya dating to 39 million years ago contain a surprising number of species, including three distinct families of anthropoid primates, the British newspaper reports. - UPI
I have another suggestion: parallel evolution.
Anywhere life persists, it works upward until you get a human-like form. It is a type of geometry.
These may even be able to interbreed -- across races, across continents, across planets.
If that breeding produces a better being, it rises...
Otherwise, devolution returns us to an apelike state.
Our scientists have a lot more to learn before anything they say surpasses conjecture.
nine comments
You are a fine representative of academia. Dave is a Chimpanzee - 19-07-’11 21:43
Right.. you teach them then Maverick. You're using science to suggest that scientists have a lot more to learn? Moronic David (Email ) - 20-07-’11 00:57
BLACK POWA MOTHERFUCKERS!!!! Hail the black race!!! Fuck ANUS.COM and white people! (in the ass lol !!1!) - 20-07-’11 13:57