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LadyAngelika -> RE: Genes Say Some Are Part Neanderthal (5/7/2010 4:43:51 AM)
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Interesting read, Sanity. There are two parts to the article I find particularly interesting.
Reich noted that while there was a flow of genes from Neanderthals to modern humans, there is no indication of gene movement the other way, from humans to Neanderthals.
The closest extinct relative to modern people, Neanderthals existed from about 400,000 years ago to about 30,000 years ago. They coexisted with modern humans for 30,000 to 50,000 years in Europe and western Asia.
While many people think of Neanderthals as very primitive, they had tools for things like hunting and sewing, controlled fire, lived in shelters and buried their dead.
Now I'm not a genetic scientist by any stretch of the word, but what I'm wondering is, if the Neanderthals gene was so strong that it flowed towards humans but stayed unaffected in the reverse, how did it die out? They seemed like a pretty resourceful bunch!
Asked if the findings show differences between Africans and non-Africans, Paabo replied that people who want to present data in some sort of racist perspective would find a way to do so. He said, one way to look at this data could be to say people outside Africa are more primitive, while another way could be to say there is something beneficial about being part Neanderthal.
So that is why they focussed half their article on this minor issue that has been criticized to lack of sampling? This could be misconstrued as a hidden agenda on behalf of the individual reporting the news. Either that, or it's just sensationalism rearing it's ugly head.
- LA
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