Los Angeles — The first modern humans to leave Africa 80,000 years ago encountered Neanderthal settlements in the Middle East and — on at least some occasions — chose to make love instead of war, according to an international team of scientists who have pieced together the genetic code of humanity’s closest relatives.
Traces of that ancient DNA live on in most human beings today, the researchers report in today’s edition of the journal Science.
The finding, which was made by analyzing DNA from Neanderthal bones and comparing it with that of five living humans, appears to resolve a long-standing mystery about the relationship between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, who coexisted in Europe and western Asia for more than 10,000 years until Neanderthals disappeared about 30,000 years ago.
“We can now say with absolute certainty that we’ve got these Neanderthal genes,” said John Hawks, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Wisconsin who was not involved in the study. “They’re not ‘them’ anymore — they’re ‘us.’”
Svante Paabo, the geneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, who spearheaded the study, said he now sees his ancestors in a new light. His initial research on a different type of DNA that contains far less information had concluded — incorrectly, it turns out — that Neanderthals have no genetic connection to people alive today.
Now, Paabo said, “I would more see them as a form of humans that were a bit more different than people are from each other today.”
Most important, scientists said, knowing the precise structure of the Neanderthal genome will help answer the fundamental biological question: What makes us human?
Neanderthal DNA is 99.7 percent identical to that of people, according to the analysis, which involved dozens of researchers. Something in the remaining 0.3 percent must make us unique.
“It’s not about understanding Neanderthals,” said genome biologist Ed Green, who led the study as a research fellow in Paabo’s lab and is now at the University of California at Santa Cruz. “It’s understanding us.”
By lining up the Neanderthal genome with DNA from humans and chimpanzees, Green and colleagues identified small changes that are unique to humans. Some were in genes involved in energy metabolism, skeletal structure and brain development, including four that are thought to contribute to conditions such as autism, Down syndrome and schizophrenia.
The researchers constructed the Neanderthal genome from three bone fragments found in Croatia’s Vindija Cave. Using a dentistry drill, the scientists removed 400 milligrams of bone powder — an amount equivalent to the size of an aspirin.
Comments
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cowboy (anonymous) says…
Thats proven on a daily basis given some of the postings on this forum , jus sayin
cavtrooper (anonymous) says…
All you have to do is spend an hour or 2 downtown when the weather is warm to see Neanderthal genes in action. Frat boys coming down from caves on the hill..... as deeper into the night you observe more the transition grows. Regression via fermented beverage!
overplayedhistory (anonymous) replies…
What makes you so sure the Neanderthal gene was the more unrefined and primal of the two?
esteshawk (anonymous) says…
Impossible. The earth is only 6,000 years old.
Ricky_Vaughn (anonymous) replies…
rofl
tange (anonymous) says…
(Apparently, they still are. Mystery remains.)
Pywacket (anonymous) says…
Who, having seen the face of GW Bush, could have had any doubts?
headdoctor (anonymous) replies…
Actually, I always thought bush looked more like a Chimp than a Neanderthal.
took_the_money_and_ran (anonymous) says…
Beer googles aren't new--that isn't news
coolmom (anonymous) says…
well, yes but he was a really nice guy.....
Ricky_Vaughn (anonymous) replies…
rofl, classic!
labmonkey (anonymous) says…
Those big foreheads are sexy.
headdoctor (anonymous) says…
Chose to make love not war?..... Nice phrase for a news paper article. They are talking about anthroprobably. I would think instead of the humans romancing the stones it might be more about to the victor goes the spoils of war.
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
well said Head.
my first thought about men having sex with Neanderthal women: there's a country music song something like "the drunker I got, the better she looked."
but then, most men are pigs:
http://www2.ljworld.com/weblogs/beard...
headdoctor (anonymous) replies…
It is rather amusing that humans tend to assume that humans would have been the superiors in a conflict. A lot of current DNA tracking involves following markers for the male of the species instead of the female. It could have been the Neanderthal males that were instigating the sexual acts, or maybe labmonkey is on to something. The human females may have liked the er...uh...large foreheads.
Katara (anonymous) replies…
Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) are humans.
Katara (anonymous) replies…
Whoops! It should be "Homo sapiens neanderthalensis".
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
Head,
I think if you buy the whole evolution thingy, then the assumption is that due to natural selection we're supposed to be superior to Neanderthals because they did die out.
and, I'm sure there *was* country music back then: Conway Twiddy [sp?] was only 24.
***
apparently when Beo goes out in public, he must either wax his forehead, or try to cover it up with bangs?
***
hey!
chimps are pretty nice people.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) replies…
The theory of evolution doesn't make value judgements of "superior" or "inferior." If successive generations of any species can continually procreate with viable offspring, even if that requires genetic mutations along the way, then it survives. Whether it's considered "inferior" or "superior" by human observers is irrelevant to the evolutionary process.
headdoctor (anonymous) replies…
I don't know that I buy into any belief structure of the past. There are to many conflicts or inconsistencies in most of the theories. I do know that I get given a hard time or catch some eye rolls when I use the term Anthroprobably instead of Anthropology. I do find some things of the past interesting but I am more concerned in now and the future.
How do we know that we didn't merge with the species instead of them dying out?
I have no idea how old Conway Twitty was but I think I remember him saying his first guitar pick was a dinosaur tooth.
beatrice (anonymous) replies…
Conway Twiddy was only 24. -- funny!
somedude20 (anonymous) says…
ahhhh yes back when the ladies had fly hairy chests and used bolders as breast implants. Back when a neanderthal could drag his old lady by the hair and not be called a neanderthal.
Back when Ron Jeremy could blended in with the locals
Dejacrew423 (anonymous) says…
I think we all dated one or two Neanderthals in our day...... or was that just me during my low self-esteem years?
artichokeheart (anonymous) says…
I knew this all along. My sister mated with one and has a child with him.
Calliope877 (anonymous) replies…
lol
So did my sister!
Neanderthals make cute kids...
georgiahawk (anonymous) says…
Where do you think the unabrow came from?
snap_pop_no_crackle (anonymous) says…
What happens in the cave stays in the cave.
beau96 (anonymous) says…
I've dated worse.
jonas_opines (anonymous) says…
Sexual reproduction - so easy a caveman can do it.
headdoctor (anonymous) says…
All I am hearing is about the Neanderthal male. The Troglodytes had females too. Surly there are some descendants out there of the Butt sisters. You know, Bertha, Betty, and Bathsheba.
snap_pop_no_crackle (anonymous) replies…
Wow, love the Jimmy Castor Bunch reference.
brujablanco (anonymous) says…
Good point headdoctor. Know a modern day descendent like that, ugly as hell, missing teeth. Did the Butt sisters have red hair, too?
tuschkahouma (anonymous) says…
Let's see, furry brows, causasian, big forehead, sounds like an angry southern
white male at a tea party rally with a misspelled sign angry at geico commericials.
50YearResident (anonymous) says…
That's nothing new as they are still doing it!
Mixolydian (anonymous) says…
OK. I did not read the article above before posting this.
I did not read a single comment above before posting this.
But I predict that this turned political within 3 posts. Something witty and clever like.."yeah and the result was Bush/Obama/conservative/liberal.
I'm going to hit post now and scroll up to check my score.
Mixolydian (anonymous) says…
Yay !!! I win!
bearded_gnome (anonymous) says…
I have no idea how old Conway Twitty was but I think I remember him saying his first guitar pick was a dinosaur tooth.
---heck, he probly done wrastled that dyno and took the tooth hisself!
***
according to Merrill,
it would be better for the environment if we all lived in caves *now.*
so, did the modern humans and the neanderthals figger out some kinda birth control?
and boozo, reread the theory of evolution, btw it is only a theory. you're misreading my use of the language, perhaps intentionally though reading comprehension has never been your strong suit. [and come to think of it] I bet you could slap your forehead with both hands ... at once!
but I digress: according to natural selection, the traits are superior when they promote greater reproduction and survival to reproduce. that is, where the rubber meets the road [pun intended], these traits give that advantage. it is a competition and they win.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (anonymous) replies…
Sorry, BG, I was hasty and thought you were using "superior" in your typically petty and judgmental manner.
jonas_opines (anonymous) says…
Did you go by placement or actual chronological order, mixolydian? You get different numbers depending.
jonas_opines (anonymous) says…
Assuming you don't count the first one, of course. Otherwise, it's like number 6. They're slipping.
Mixolydian (anonymous) replies…
BarryPenders is political everytime, all the time....and this time too. Stop trying to diminsh the victory beer I'm enjoying now.
puddleglum (anonymous) says…
nothin wrong with gettin dirty neanderthal style.....just remember to shave her back