Neanderthal genome unlocks secrets of human evolution

[John21]

"Early humans and Neanderthals, our closest and ill-fated evolutionary cousins, went their separate genetic ways some 500,000 years ago, a more distant divorce than once thought, two pathbreaking studies published Wednesday concluded."

"The full Neanderthal genome," they added, will also help resolve a long-standing debate: "In evolution, how important are mutations in genes that result in structural and physiological changes, compared with mutations that affect the regulation of those genes?"

Link to article:
http://www.physorg.com/news82818712.html

[arahant]

Interesting from the standpoint of evolution.
Stunning from the standpoint of the technological advances that have been made in DNA sequencing over just the last decade.

[Turn Prophet]

Haven't you read Carded's posts? You only believe evolution because scientists told you too. :P


Seriously, very interesting article, though.

[Rduke55]

[ QUOTE ]
Interesting from the standpoint of evolution.


[/ QUOTE ]

I think it's going to be interesting for other reasons too. Not least because of the question they pose on the changes in the genes vs. changes in the expression of those genes.
Many scientists believe that the latter part is where much of the big differences come from.
I posted earlier on "The Monogamy Gene" and that's just the tip of the iceberg here.

[FortunaMaximus]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Interesting from the standpoint of evolution.


[/ QUOTE ]

I think it's going to be interesting for other reasons too. Not least because of the question they pose on the changes in the genes vs. changes in the expression of those genes.
Many scientists believe that the latter part is where much of the big differences come from.
I posted earlier on "The Monogamy Gene" and that's just the tip of the iceberg here.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fascinating. Wiki blurb on the Neanderthal Parallax novels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Neanderthal_Parallax)

Robert Sawyer, Canadian spec-fic author. Presents an interesting approach on how a Neanderthal civilization would have progressed, and interactions with our current civilization across a series of novels. Of course, as the genre implies, it's pure speculative fiction, but it's very well grounded in hard science.

However, I can't tell much difference between his portrayals of Neanderthals and what Canadians are generally like. Heh. Nice picture in the article, thought I'd found a cousin. Ahem.

[jogsxyz]

Here's a more recent article on neanderthal fossils (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/11/16/MNGMFMDVG31.DTL).