 Editor in Chief Bill   | 24 Jun 2015 11:13 a.m. PST |
A jawbone found in Romania more than a decade ago provides the first genetic evidence that humans and Neanderthals knocked boots in Europe before the latter disappeared between 35,000 and 40,000 years ago.Scientists who came across the bone of one of the earliest modern humans in Europe in a cave known as Pestera cu Oase noticed it had both modern human and Neanderthal traits. Now, a study of the bone's DNA—made possible by recent technological advances—explains why. "The sample is more closely related to Neanderthals than any other modern human we've ever looked at before," Harvard researcher David Reich explains in a press release… link |
| Double W | 24 Jun 2015 11:35 a.m. PST |
"Knocked boots"? I would've gone for "bumped uglies." They were cavemen – they probably didn't look too good. Apologies to any cavemen who may be reading this. |
| Winston Smith | 24 Jun 2015 12:08 p.m. PST |
How do we know they were ugly?
Have you looked in a mirror lately?  |
| Korvessa | 24 Jun 2015 12:44 p.m. PST |
Pretty sure some of my in-laws are Neanderthals |
 Unlucky General  | 24 Jun 2015 12:56 p.m. PST |
I suspect that one of the things we are going to find is that Caucasian humans are probably a hybrid of neanderthal and homo-sapien. If so people are going to have to re-evaluate the cultural cringe against neanderthal. |
| MHoxie | 24 Jun 2015 1:05 p.m. PST |
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| Winston Smith | 24 Jun 2015 1:20 p.m. PST |
If they can interbreed they are not separate species. |
| Sir Walter Rlyeh | 24 Jun 2015 2:01 p.m. PST |
Winston, Tigers and Lions? |
| whitejamest | 24 Jun 2015 3:47 p.m. PST |
I think what Mr. Smith is pointing out is that if they can interbreed and produce offspring that are themselves fertile, they aren't exactly separate species. Lions and tigers can create offspring, but the offspring is sterile. Same with horses and mules. Donkeys usually can't reproduce. So I guess we should be thinking about neanderthals and homo sapiens as different breeds of the same species? |
| gamershs | 24 Jun 2015 4:09 p.m. PST |
The whole homo sapiens race was reduced to about 30,000 beings about 30,000 thousand years ago. Thus inter breading may be a moot point if humans and Neanderthals and any cross breading all died out. |
| Grelber | 24 Jun 2015 6:06 p.m. PST |
One theory is that interbreeding of Nenaderthals from the north and homo sapiens coming up from the south was a relatively quick way for the southerners to get cold weather genes. Sadly, you can already go looking and find websites and blogs claiming that those of us descended from this mix are superior to other humans. Kind of like the Master Race concept. Grelber |
| Editor in Chief Bill | 24 Jun 2015 7:56 p.m. PST |
As the article says, "…all people except sub-Saharan Africans share 1% to 4% of their DNA with Neanderthals today." |
| John the OFM | 24 Jun 2015 8:35 p.m. PST |
Thank you whitejamest. That is exactly what I, err, Winston meant. |
| Tgerritsen | 24 Jun 2015 8:45 p.m. PST |
Except that it's Donkeys that are interbred with horses to make Mules, not the other way around. It's mules that can't breed. Helpfully, yours. Tim |
| platypus01au | 25 Jun 2015 6:25 a.m. PST |
Tim is right, though I think whitejamest probably just accidentally mixed them up. And John, the "can't interbreed" thing hasn't been a definition of species for decades, especially since the development of DNA electrophoresis and the rise of the gel-jockey. The Wikipedia article on Species is very good, though technical. JohnG |
| whitejamest | 25 Jun 2015 9:00 a.m. PST |
Whoops, yes, thank you for the donkey v. mule fix. Can you tell I'm a city slicker yet? |
| Zargon | 26 Jun 2015 10:44 a.m. PST |
Sooo, can you get a Neanderthal-American? Too much Eugenics talk me thinks :) BTW anyone remember 'Quest for Fire' that was a cool movie
Cheers,When Ug meet Doug it was love at first sight ;D |
