[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', 'C')omfortably numb

[elroy]

Studies on skulls show that even in medieval ages people looked a little different compared to today. They had broader faces and bigger jaws, because their food was far less processed than ours. If processed food becomes less available after power down, I suspect this could happen again.

[TheTurtle]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schweinshaxe', 'T')he Neanderthals were actually not killed off. It's just a scam to make us Europeans feel. They moved to America and started the GOP.

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheTurtle', 'W')hat did Neanderthals ever do to earn your contempt?

[TheTurtle]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheTurtle', 'W')hat did Neanderthals ever do to earn your contempt?

[Schweinshaxe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', 'C')omfortably numb

[Odin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Daculling', 'H')aHa! I am decendant from Neanderthals!

Europeans are Neanderthals

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schweinshaxe', 'I') think this thread is cursed. I've done two mistakes in my life and I make them in the same thread! I think this thread needs exorsism...

[Schweinshaxe]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rogerhb', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Schweinshaxe', 'I') think this thread is cursed. I've done two mistakes in my life and I make them in the same thread! I think this thread needs exorsism...

[Carlhole]

Scientists Mapping Neanderthal Genome

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MyWay News', 'B')y MALCOLM RITTER

NEW YORK (AP) - A bone fragment that scientists had initially ignored has begun to yield secrets of the Neanderthal genome, launching a new way to learn about the stocky and muscular relative of modern humans, scientists say.

Genetic material from the bone has let researchers identify more than a million building blocks of Neanderthal DNA so far, and it should be enough to derive most of the creature's 3.3 billion blocks within the next two years, said researcher Svante Paabo.

"We're at the dawn of Neanderthal genomics," said gene expert Edward Rubin of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.

Such research will "serve as a DNA time machine that will tell us about the biology and aspects of Neanderthals that we could never get" otherwise, Rubin said...

[Ludi]

"We" (Homo sapiens sapiens) probably killed themoff/out-competed them, so we probably didn't like them much back then...except for those few folks who interbred with them.

[seldom_seen]

I hope they get this figured out soon, because I have a prominent occipital bun (distinct trait of neanderthals) and I'm going to be first in line for reperations, subsidized housing and free college tuition (I've already been to college but still).

Time for us Neanderthals to get what we deserve.

[Polemic]

This reminds me of ...

MSNBC: Could our big brains come from Neanderthal?

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ASHINGTON - 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 on 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.

"The gene microcephalin (MCPH1) regulates brain size during development and has experienced positive selection in the lineage leading to Homo sapiens," the researchers wrote.

Positive selection means the gene conferred some sort of advantage, so that people who had it were more likely to have descendants than people who did not. Lahn's team estimated that 70 percent of all living humans have this type D variant of the gene.

"By no means do these findings constitute definitive proof that a Neanderthal was the source of the original copy of the D allele. However, our evidence shows that it is one of the best candidates," Lahn said.

The researchers reached their conclusions by doing a statistical analysis of the DNA sequence of microcephalin, which is known to play a role in regulating brain size in humans. Mutations in the human gene cause development of a much smaller brain, a condition called microcephaly.

They noted that this D allele is very common in Europe, where Neanderthals lived, and more rare in Africa, where they did not. Lahn said it is not yet clear what advantage the D allele gives the human brain.

"The D alleles may not even change brain size; they may only make the brain a bit more efficient if it indeed affects brain function," Lahn said.

Now his team is looking for evidence of Neanderthal origin for other human genes.

[Lighthouse]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'S')cientists Mapping Neanderthal Genome

[entropyfails]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lighthouse', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', 'S')cientists Mapping Neanderthal Genome

[entropyfails]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'I') thought I commented on this already. Something about designing Neanderburgers by reverse-engineering the protein? no?

[vampyregirl]

Genetic analysis of ancient DNA traces from Neanderthal bones found in El Sidron cave in Spain have yielded evidence that Neanderthal carried the red hair gene. So could there be truth to the theory of the gene passed on to us by Neanderthal man? I think so.

[Ludi]

What about Orangutans? They have red hair.

[vampyregirl]

It is highly unlikely that red haired people would have evolved in Africa. Red hair and pale skin is not a good survival trait for that climate. And the red hair gene goes back to long before our ancestors are supposed to have left Africa. So I think it likely it was passed on to us by Neanderthal man.