Scientists decode Neanderthal genes

[Penelope631]

Scientists decode Neanderthal genes
Material from 38,000-year-old bone fragment being analyzed

A reconstructed Neanderthal skeleton, right,
and a modern version of a Homo sapiens skeleton
are on display at the Museaum of Natural History.

Humans and their close Neanderthal relatives began diverging from a common ancestor about 700,000 years ago, and the two groups split permanently some 300,000 years later, according to two of the most detailed analyses of Neanderthal DNA to date.

Using different techniques, two teams of scientists separately sequenced large chunks of DNA extracted from the femur of a 38,000-year-old Neanderthal specimen found in a cave 26 years ago in Croatia. One team sequenced more than 1 million base pairs of the 3.3-billion-pair genome, and the other analyzed 65,000 pairs.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15732243/?GT1=8717

 

[Peter Hamilton]

Very interesting---shows even more proof that Darwin was right-- Article states "We evolved(man and ape) from a common ancestor 700,000 years ago,and split some 300,000 years later....Our Genes are 99.5 percent identical to the Neanderthals....Neanderthals used tools, wore jewelry, and buried their dead....this was 38,000 years ago....they even spoke...."---Scientists have also said that our voicebox developed about 100,000 years ago,from a previous article---and those cave paintings in France are about 25,000 years old-----steady evolutionary progress----This sorta puts the kibosh on Tom Cruise's cult/religion that says we're descended from Aliens 40,000 years ago lol

 

[narlacat]

This stuff is really interesting, always wanted to know where I came from...but I'm obviously not telling Peter lol

The Neanderthals died out because they didn't change, they kept on doing the same thing for 100's of 1000's of years.
We adapted and ventured out- and here we are!
Human beings are amazing.

It is interesting that our DNA is so close to the chimp...we are more like them than a rat is to a mouse...

 

[CyberLaw]

You mean that they decoded the DNA from some of the men that I know.

Gee, I never would have thought.

 

[Peter Hamilton]

yes, but after reading this I have a sudden craving for bananas---

 

[IrishMist]

You mean that they decoded the DNA from some of the men that I know.

Gee, I never would have thought.

You know the IrishMister?? How cool!

Seriously, thanks for posting this, Penelope. Very interesting.

 

[SadieMae]

You mean that they decoded the DNA from some of the men that I know.

Gee, I never would have thought.

The split wasn't complete apparently.:doh: Or some recessive genes are just really hard to get rid of. Some of them Neanderthals are still hanging on I guess.