Okay......

[patgund]

Interesting idea, not sure if I buy into it though....

Could our big brains come from Neanderthals?

"Neanderthals may have given the modern humans who replaced them a priceless gift -- a gene that helped them develop superior brains, U.S. researchers reported Tuesday.

And the only way they could have provided that gift would have been by interbreeding, the team at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the University of Chicago said.

Their study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides indirect evidence that modern Homo sapiens and so-called Neanderthals interbred at some point when they lived side by side in Europe.

"Finding evidence of mixing is not all that surprising. But our study demonstrates the possibility that interbreeding contributed advantageous variants into the human gene pool that subsequently spread," said Bruce Lahn, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher at the University of Chicago who led the study."

Comments

[capthunter.livejournal.com]

I don't usually comment on friend's friend's pages, but this caught my attention. It's an interesting article, though it's worth mentioning that earlier studies carried out on Neandarthal DNA found no trace of gene transfer to modern man. Admittedly, that's not conclusive either, since if I recall correctly, the Neanderthal DNA recovered was hardly complete.

Still, fascinating stuff.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Agreed. The ball has been going back and fourth for a while on the whole "did they or didn't they" mix debate.

BTW, I like the TASish icon........

[nolly.livejournal.com]

*blink* I got part of that in my spam this morning. (I had opened it to try to see what to tweak in my filters.)

[tepintzin.livejournal.com]

Have a look at the issue of "Anthropology" currently on the newsstands. (I also have it.) Big article on the Neanderthals and how it's still unclear if we share DNA with them and if so, how much. Since for whatever reason I adhere to the "numerous types of humans that blended into one" I'm following the debate with some interest. Perhaps it's because until recently they though Neanderthals couldn't speak, and then they found a complete skull with a hyoid bone.

[patgund.livejournal.com]

Have to see if I can find that on the newsstands. Any idea who carries it?

[tepintzin.livejournal.com]

Barnes and Noble or Borders. It's not a hard one to find.

[capthunter.livejournal.com]

I'll have to see if I can find that. Do you know if it's it available in the UK?

[tepintzin.livejournal.com]

No clue, having not been to the UK in years.