First Draft of Neanderthal Genome Announced

[BurtWorm]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7886477.stm

Neanderthals 'distinct from us'


The DNA will tease out the differences between Neanderthals (l) and us (r)

By James Morgan
Science reporter, BBC News, Chicago

Scientists studying the DNA of Neanderthals say they can find no evidence that this ancient species ever interbred with modern humans.

But our closest ancestors may well have been able to speak as well as us, said Prof Svante Paabo from Germany's Max Planck Institute.

He was speaking in Chicago, US, where he announced the "first draft" of a complete Neanderthal genome.

The genetics information has been gleaned from fossils found in Croatia.

Prof Svante Paabo confirmed that Neanderthals shared the FOXP2 gene associated with speech and language in modern humans.

A total of three billion "letters", covering 60% of the Neanderthal genome, have been sequenced by scientists from Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and 454 Life Sciences Corporation, in Branford, Connecticut.

...

[tekisui]

1. How long before someone clones and gives birth to one?

[BurtWorm]

2. Already happened

[cobalt1999]

4. There's a high probability Neanderthals may have been smarter than Homo Sapians

They'd be insulted.

[BurtWorm]

6. True.

I just couldn't resist a big fat slow pitch like that.

[Ian David]

10. It's possible they died out because their heads were too big for the birth canal...

... resulting in 13% higher infant mortality, which allowed humans to out-breed them.

[librechik]

12. That could also explain no evidence for inbreeding

but all speculation at this point. It may even be an exaggeration that Neanderthals "disappeared."

Ehh--just musing. Not enough evidence of anything. really00though the DNA has got to be stronger evidence than we've analyzed before.

[seabeyond]

5. you are funny. n/t

[pipi_k]

11. I always thought he was more of a

chimp/weasel hybrid

[Tikki]

3. This is so interesting...

Just imagine another group of males and females that might be able to
interact with 'us' and what we all could learn from each other...
One of my Anthro Professor's speculated that the Thals skeletal structure may have
worked against them in competition with modern humans...thicker, heavier bones
may have lead to slower reaction time (hunting) and longer healing time for injuries..

Maybe the Neanderthals just faded away...


Tikki

[cobalt1999]

7. It was the original immigration problem.

Except we were the immigrants

[Donnachaidh]

8. or homo sapiens practiced the very earliest form of genocide

We've certainly got enough history to say we're quite good at THAT.

[semillama]

14. They've recently found evidence

that neanderthals did not throw spears, which would have been a disadvantage in competing with Homo sapiens:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16091-were-neanderthals-stoned-to-death-by-modern-humans.html

"Studies of elite handball and baseball players suggest that frequent overhand throwing from an early age permanently rotates the shoulder-end of the humerus toward an athlete's back, compared to people who haven't spent much time hurling.

This bone rotation only occurs in the throwing arm, so a difference between the right and left arm in fossils could be a sign of projectile use, Rhodes says.

To find out, she and Churchill measured humerus bones from Neanderthals and ancient and modern humans.

They found some evidence for projectile use in male European humans from around 26,000 to 28,000 years ago – the middle Palaeolithic period – who would have been contemporaries of Neanderthals. Their right humerus bones were generally more rotated toward their back than their left, while Rhodes's team noticed no such asymmetry in Neanderthal arms."

[xchrom]

9. cool -- i find the neanderthal fascinating. nt

[JitterbugPerfume]

13. maybe this will help us understand

our Neandarthal cousins better. I assume there is much we can learn about their lives and times that will be of value.

What wonderful times we are priviledged to live in, to be just one mouse click away from such knowledge!