Comments on: Out of who knows where

By: Darkseid

Darkseid — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 00:35:15 +0000

that reminds me that i’d like to vote for a GNXP update post on the state of epigenetics. maybe something to clear the air about the issue because i think most people don’t realize we inherit our epigenome too…i think. everyone’s starting to use it to downplay heritability at their convenience.

By: Robert Dole

Robert Dole — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:39:38 +0000

They’re gettin’ to the good stuff:

“Pääbo says he may soon start gathering data on methylation of Neanderthal DNA as part of his work on Neanderthal genomics. Epigenetics is already thought to occur in humans – it has been cited as an explanation for the high incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder among those whose parents survived the holocaust. Epigenetic data spanning a much longer interval in human prehistory could reveal that the process was key to adapting quickly to a wide range of environmental conditions during the Pleistocene.”

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21410-fossil-dna-has-clues-to-surviving-rapid-climate-change.html?full=true

By: AndrewV

AndrewV — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:45:10 +0000

@#6 I would hazard to assert that there are some exciting times ahead.

I am not going to be surprised if it turns out that there is much more to the story than just Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Archaic DNA data mining for dummies :
http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2012/01/archaic-dna-data-mining-for-dummies.html

The idea that there were some seriously promiscuous hominids in our past is firmly embedded in my mind at any rate.

By: Darkseid

Darkseid — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:06:11 +0000

i don’t know what i’ll do without Wade there. he was my fav. NYT writer by far. is this new girl trustworthy?

By: ackbark

ackbark — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:58:04 +0000

#5. He’s trying to say these were super-powered characters named Hercules and Zeus and so forth.

By: dave chamberlin

dave chamberlin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:20:14 +0000

Rebecca Cann goes on to say ” We are a new species, we went through a period where we were like an endangered species, a very isolated population. We came very close to going extinct.”

Is this proven? It just seems highly unlikely to me that we would almost go extinct right when we were on the verge of modernity. Yes there is evidence of a population bottleneck but isn’t this bottleneck more likely because this small population had cognitive advantages and expanded rapidly.

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:21:49 +0000

#6, no, i don’t agree. also, it is not surprising that this is rebecca cann. she seems more strident on this issue. stoneking endorses the ‘leaky replacement’ model.

By: Insightful

Insightful — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:05:00 +0000

Razib, in the interview with Rebecca Cann and Mark Stoneking that you linked, Rebecca makes a point you may or may not disagree with. She says:

So now we know that from Neanderthals and Denisovans that some isolated bits of earlier human genomes have survived in some specific populations, but that is a tiny fraction, a REALLY tiny fraction, of the total diversity of human genes.

They make it seem miniscule and the word “really” was capitalized in the article. This makes Neanderthal and Denisovan contribution seem negligible as if we were ‘splitting hairs’ so to speak.

By: Razib Khan

Razib Khan — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:57:54 +0000

#3, i think he’s writing a book, and accepted a buy out.

By: observer

observer — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:53:28 +0000

Yeah, the paragraph on the half-modern half-other hybrids is a bit strange. My guess, though, is that’s it’s saying no more than that once upon a time modern humans and Neanderthals/Denisovans mated, were interfertile, producing these hybrids. And of course, these hybrids in turn mated with other modern humans or Neanderthals/Denisovans.

But focusing on the particular step in which they are half and half seems just weird. I can’t imagine that there was anything like a separate tribe of half-modern half-other human beings — why on earth should there be? So what’s the significance of pulling out this step, other than to make the point that the two groups mated and produced offspring?

By: Doug1

Doug1 — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:53:21 +0000

So the is the author of the piece, ALANNA MITCHELL, Nicholas Wade’s replacement at the NY Times?

Anyone know why Wade left?

By: AG

AG — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:01:52 +0000

Evolution is complicated process of replacement and hybridization at the same time. Evolution should be considered as survival of the fittest genes instead of species. Genocide style evolution is always problematic.

By: Robert Dole

Robert Dole — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:40:55 +0000

Kirby is still Kirby no matter what he absorbs.