New flat-faced human species possibly discovered

[Shadow]

In today's news:

http://www.tgdaily.com/general-scien...h-neanderthals

Found a related article...


Did humans and Neanderthals 'do it'? Some experts doubt it


One of the most titillating tales in the study of human origins — focusing on whether Neanderthals interbred with modern humans — has just gotten more tangled.

Over the past couple of years, studies of Neanderthal DNA samples painstakingly extracted from ancient bones have suggested that contemporary non-Africans can trace up to 4 percent of their genetic code to our long-extinct Neanderthal cousins. The genomes of modern-day Africans, in contrast, have virtually nothing in common with the Neanderthals. Researchers assumed that the genetic contribution for the non-Africans was passed down through cross-species sex during the time that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens lived in close proximity in Europe, tens of thousands of years ago.

However, there's another possibility: Maybe that common genetic code was passed down from the common ancestor of Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis, hundreds of thousands of years ago in Africa. Today, researchers at the University of Cambridge reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that such a scenario provides a better fit for the genetic data. They say there's no need to assume that anatomically modern humans did the Neanderthal nasty, a process known more scientifically as hybridization.

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"Our work shows clearly that the patterns currently seen in the Neanderthal genome are not exceptional, and are in line with our expectations of what we would see without hybridization," the lead researcher, Andrea Manica, said in a Cambridge news release. "So, if any hybridization happened — it's difficult to conclusively prove it never happened — then it would have been minimal and much less than what people are claiming now."

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2...-doubt-it?lite

[PostmodernProphet]

Query: If there can be that much variation between Homo Sapiens from Papua New Guinea and Homo Sapiens from Europe and yet they remain both Homo Sapiens, then by what measure can we say that Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens are actually different species instead of different races?.....

[Tyr-Ziu Saxnot]

I don't get a lot of this.

Scientists will hold up a skull bone fossil from cave men types, which look very similar to each other, and not that different than our skulls today, and talk about them all being different species.

Meanwhile, I can hold up a skull bone from a chihuahua and a Great Dane today, which would look nothing alike, yet they are the same species, genus, and can procreate together (physical challenges notwithstanding)

I may have a lot of my biology wrong (Bio 101 was over 30 years ago)... but this whole "different human species" things doesn't sound right. If it's a different species, how do they decide it's a human species and not another primate species, like apes or gorillas?

To support their Evolution Theory they just make shat up. That simple and yes they get by with it, example-Global Warming Scam. -Tyr

[Missileman]

I don't get a lot of this.

Scientists will hold up a skull bone fossil from cave men types, which look very similar to each other, and not that different than our skulls today, and talk about them all being different species.

Meanwhile, I can hold up a skull bone from a chihuahua and a Great Dane today, which would look nothing alike, yet they are the same species, genus, and can procreate together (physical challenges notwithstanding)

I may have a lot of my biology wrong (Bio 101 was over 30 years ago)... but this whole "different human species" things doesn't sound right. If it's a different species, how do they decide it's a human species and not another primate species, like apes or gorillas?

Maybe this will help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution

[taft2012]

Maybe this will help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution

Thanks for the link from your GED class.

The issue I was discussing is more along these lines:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_problem

[ringotuna]

I'm enjoying the conversation, but I'm still in the dark about these questions.

For instance, if these are different species, how do we descend from a completely different species? I can see if they were a different genus, sort of like horses and zebras having a common ancestor. But a different species? That being the case, they could just as easily say we descended from cats.

Different species can not procreate, as far as I know.

Does anyone know anything about any of this?

Taft, interspecific mating is common in both nature and controlled mating. I do it all the time. Since Genus is higher up on the classification scale,(not as closely related as species) different genus' are less likely to mate successfully and reproduce than are different species. I'm personally not aware of any instances of cross genus derivations. That of course doesn't mean it's not possible.

[ringotuna]

As I went poking around Taft, I found an example of inter-genetic mating, Goats and Sheep.

[Missileman]

Thanks for the link from your GED class.

The issue I was discussing is more along these lines:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_problem

Ah well, if it's GED level, it's WAY over your head and I wasted the effort posting it to you.