2010 preview: Arise, Neanderthal brother

New Scientist ^ | Thursday, December 17, 2009 | Ewen Callaway

[SunkenCiv]

Do we have a little Neanderthal in us? That's not a reference to your behaviour at the end-of-year office party, but to the genes of our extinct cousins. With the imminent publication of the genome sequence of Homo neanderthalis, that question may finally be answered.

So far no one has uncovered evidence of any cross-species romps -- at least none that left a trace in our DNA. The 3-billion-nucleotide Neanderthal genome is our best chance yet of finding out.

Whether they did or didn't will make the headlines next year, but the importance of the Neanderthal genome reaches much further. For a start, any sign of interbreeding will force us to rethink our place among our ancestors. The researchers working on the genome have already discovered some details of the hominin's nature: a few individuals were pale-skinned redheads; others couldn't taste bitter vegetables; they may have spoken a complex language. But a complete genome means our closest ancestors can be analysed in far more detail, even revealing such information as their population size.

As it stands, the animal closest to humans that we know most about genetically is the chimpanzee. We shared an ancestor with chimps about 6 million years ago -- and a lot has happened since.

With the Neanderthal genome, geneticists will get a twig that split from the Homo sapiens branch only 500,000 or so years ago. That twig could reveal the changes that make humans human, potentially explaining why some of us go mad, others get fat and far too many contract malaria. For scientists, at least, that's far more interesting than a little hanky-panky in a prehistoric cave.

[SunkenCiv]

The Neandertal Enigma
by James Shreeve
in local libraries

Frayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]

[SunkenCiv]

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[B-Chan]

[SunkenCiv]

• En route to Neandertal Genome, Researchers Analyze Its Complete Mitochondrial Genome

[Candor7]

Do we have a little Neanderthal in us?>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Yes we do, according to Tiger Woods.

[JoeProBono]

[NewLand]

[redhead]

"Do we have a little Neanderthal in us?"

Let's see...Fair skin...check. Red hair...check. Yep.

[Cloverfarm]

Dittoes.

And ... it explains a lot ;-)

[muawiyah]

For most of my life I was a "secret red head" ~ just a touch too much black/brown melanin for it to come out. Fortunately time has been kind and I've lost all that dark stuff, and the blond stuff, and the brown stuff, and now it's just more or less red and platinum.

Alas, cataract surgery took away my green eyes and gave me blue ones, but they're coming back ~ the red/yellow pigment is positively surging!

That's why it's bad to tangle with me. I'm prone to grab a club and it's up side the head, and into the cook pot.

Yum, yum!

And yessirree bob the dentist has this problem getting past that boney ridge to numb my gums.

[Candor7]

Careful, I am latently nutzo for redheads.

[redhead]

Yes, I should have been a little more precise in my terms. I USED to have red hair. Now, whatever is left is pretty sad. But I used to be "the little redheaded girl" everybody hated. Curly red hair, glasses, smarter than the teachers...what's to like? I'm much mellower (and grayer) these days. But "scrapper" was my middle name. Sigh... those were the days...

[Pollster1]

Do we have a little Neanderthal in us?

Any questions?

[hellbender]

An episode [of South Park] in 2005 focused on prejudice against "gingers" after one of the characters said people with red hair, light skin and freckles have no souls and suffer from a disease called "Gingervitus."

Did Gingervitis kill off the Neanderthals? Paleo-dentists couldn't help them because they couldn't find that nerve canal.

[SunkenCiv]

For the first time in 2009, I’m proud of our country. ;’)

[SunkenCiv]

Hey, if there were Neandertal women anywhere nearby, it would be the other way around...

[RichInOC]

“Hi, baby. Got a little Neanderthal in you?”
“Well, I don’t know—”
“Would you like a little Neanderthal in you?”

[Will88]

In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe.

Have just scanned some of the posts on this subject in the past, but aren't they really talking about an additional ancestor of only the Europeans? From some of the other comments, that's not so clear.

[Candor7]

YOu could be right about that . Tiger is a vvictim of latent Neanderthal genetic cougars!

I wonder if that will work with wifey?

[SunkenCiv]

There’s a kinda weird unsubstantiated bias, with an origin in the 19th century, that Neandertal died out, that modern humans are gracile and intellectual, while Neandertal was dumb and clumsy. :’)