Comments on: The Neanderthal Genome: File Under Non-Fiction

By: drew hempel

drew hempel — Sat, 05 Aug 2006 20:37:47 +0000

If you review the science citatation index of ISI Web of Science you get a pretty even mix of pro-con Neanderthal-cromagnon cross-breeding articles.

It can not be ruled out and it’s a strong argument that Neanderthals interbred with Cromagnons.

In which case it’s time to start reading more STAN GOOCH.

By: Elliot Kennel

Elliot Kennel — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 03:06:11 +0000

This is just too cool! Actually, one of the things that I find interesting is that according to the NYT article, it is still an open issue whether Neanderthals could mate with humans. I had read another source that was much more negative on that issue (but sorry I can’t remember where I read that). I think some people may be repulsed by the idea that the Neanderthals might make up part of our gene pool, but to me it wouldn’t be so shocking. By the same token, it would be really interesting to learn whether homo floresiensis could mate with humans, as some oral traditions have implied.

By: Cambias

Cambias — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 04:29:23 +0000

Scientists doing DNA studies of extinct species — we all know where this is going, right? It will GO WRONG somehow and we’re going to have hordes of dangerous Neanderthals rampaging through the streets of Hartford!

Get me Michael Crichton’s agent — this smells like BLOCKBUSTER, baby!

By: GKrauter

GKrauter — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 19:42:42 +0000

It seems that the creationists have already twisted this new to make it seem like it disproves the theory o evolution:

http://www.reasons.org/press_releases/20060601.shtml

But most of you probably expected-ahem-”predicted” that anyhow.

By: Owlmirror

Owlmirror — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 03:04:25 +0000

The NYTimes link is broken. This works: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/20/science/20cnd-neanderthal.html/partner/rssnyt

By: gawp

gawp — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 22:50:18 +0000

There are 7 neanderthal nucleotide sequences (mitochondrial) in genbank already, and one protein (osteocalcin, from bone fragments) sequenced using MALDI-TOF. So, just a few million more to go and they’re done!
I’m interested to see how practical this turns out to be. DNA isn’t very stable in the long term, but perhaps massive sequencing redundancy will help, and the ‘scaffolding’ of the already sequenced human genome will provide a good starting point.
I wonder what the limits of their technology is? Would they, for example, be able to tell if neanderthals have a different number of chromosomes? The DNA will be highly fragmented and altered.