Have Neanderthal Will Travel

The Old World is a reference to those parts of Earth known to Europeans before the voyages of Christopher Columbus; it includes Europe, Asia and Africa.

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Cognito
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Joined: Fri Jul 28, 2006 10:37 am
Location: Southern California

Have Neanderthal Will Travel

Post by Cognito »

Until quite recently conventional scientists were adamant that there was no hybridization between H. sapiens and H. neanderthalis. Then, Svante Paabo upset that apple cart with the Neanderthal Genome Project concluding that people with ancestry outside of Africa share 1% to 5% of their genome with Neanderthals.

Now, the plot thickens as genetic studies begin to show that breeding with brutes had its benefits, especially when it came to disease resistance:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg2 ... nline-news

Denisovans are also mentioned in the above article. The trek out of Africa must have been one big love fest. :lol:
Natural selection favors the paranoid
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