You May Be Part Neanderthal, Scientists Say

Fox News ^ | July 18 2011 | Nick Patterson

[Beowulf9]

Is there a little Fred Flintstone in you? According to a new genetic analysis, some of the human X chromosome originates from Neanderthals -- but it's found exclusively in people outside Africa. The ancestors of Neanderthals left Africa about 400,000 to 800,000 years ago. They evolved over the millennia mostly in what are now France, Spain, Germany and Russia, and went extinct (or were simply absorbed into the modern human population) about 30,000 years ago. The ancestors of early modern humans left Africa about 80,000 to 50,000 years ago, according to DiscoveryNews.com. Despite that wide spread in time, genetic material from Neanderthals still can be found in a piece of DNA (called a haplotype) in the human X chromosome -- meaning the two clearly mated. "This confirms recent findings suggesting that the two populations interbred," says Dr. Labuda. His team places the timing of such intimate contacts and family ties early on, probably at the crossroads of the Middle East. Neanderthals possessed the gene for language and had sophisticated music, art and tool craftsmanship skills, so they must have not been all that unattractive to modern humans at the time, DiscoveryNews.com noted. "There is little doubt that this haplotype is present because of mating with our ancestors and Neanderthals," Nick Patterson of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard University told DiscoveryNews.com. He added, "This is a very nice result, and further analysis may help determine more details."

[Johnny B.]

I have a really funny book, called "Science Made Stupid", which includes a quiz called "Are You a Neanderthal?"

It included the following questions:

Can you pick up an apple with your foot? (1 point)

Do you usually eat apples by holding them in your foot? (5 points)

[mountainlion]

Let us see peer review.

[varmintman]

Date is July of 97:

http://www.expressindia.com/fe/daily/19970712/19355423.html

"He said his team ran four separate tests for authenticity - checking whether other amino acids had survived, making sure the DNA sequences they found did not exist in modern humans, making sure the DNA could be replicated in their own lab and then getting other labs to duplicate their results. Comparisons with the DNA of modern humans and of apes showed the Neanderthal was about halfway between a modern human and a chimpanzee."

Another recent article:

http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals

Reconstructions as per the image show the neanderthal having the same sort of rounded torso which apes have rather than the elongated human torso. The Neanderthal was an advanced ape.

[varmintman]

"There is little doubt that this haplotype is present because of mating with our ancestors and Neanderthals,"

Isn't that a bit like seeing Fords and Chevrolets both using tie rods and concluding that they interbred or that they were both originally built in the same factory?? I mean, isn't that ignoring the possibility of the same design idea being used more than once out of either sheer ignorance or outright refusal to consider any possibility other than your own???

[PapaBear3625]

The Neanderthal was an advanced ape.

An ape who used tools, played the flute, and wore clothing?

Current evidence indicates that Neanderthals were just another race of Man. Yes, there were anatomical differences, but nothing as radical as between different breeds of dogs.

[762X51]

There’s a whole lot of conclusions one can come to about that, and most of them are not very politically-correct...

Exactly...and how dare you point it out! The thought police will be to your house any minute now since you've just committed a hate crime. Actually I can't believe this ever saw the light of day. Perhaps the idiot journalists that made this study known didn't fully understand the technical science jargon they were reading.

[RoadTest]

“I have a really funny book, called “Science Made Stupid”, which includes a quiz called “Are You a Neanderthal?”
It included the following questions:

Can you pick up an apple with your foot? (1 point)

Do you usually eat apples by holding them in your foot? (5 points)”

LOL! :-D

[Humbug]

So....is the author saying that Fred Flintstone was really a Neanderthal?

Now the Wayouts, yes, them i could see. Not so much Fred though.

[Johnny B.]

Another recent article:
http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals

Here's a reconstruction of what a Neanderthal would have looked like, based on the DNA evidence, using the article you referenced:

Looks more human than some of my coworkers.

The question is whether Neanderthals were a breed of homo sapiens, or whether they were a distinct human species.

Of course, your assertion that Neanderthals were "an advanced ape" is reasonable, since modern homo sapiens (i.e. "us") are also "an advanced ape".

[Johnny B.]

An ape who used tools, played the flute, and wore clothing?

Don't forget the part where Neanderthals had larger brains than modern humans.

[Humbug]

Speaking of which, the Wayouts would of course be a perfect name for a Neanderthal rock group.

We’re on our way out
(Way Out!)
That’s what i say
We’re on our way out
(Way out!)
Because we all turned gay

[shibumi]

Ping to post #10 -

You sure this isn’t an old HammerFrog video?

The NeanderGoGoGoul (Allegra cameo?) is smokin’ Hot! and I could swear that’s George “The Animal Steele” dancing in the background.

[668 - Neighbor of the Beast]

Expert varmintman has spoken. Matter settled.

[elcid1970]

Well...... Fred Flintstone may in fact have been a Neanderthal because it’s obvious Wilma was much, much smarter than her mate.

Maybe Wilma Flintstone was actually a Cro-Magnon. Together they produced Pebbles, evidently a modern human. This could bolster the theory that the Neanderthals died out as a separate species not due to inability to adapt, but because of intermarriage.

[TheOldLady]

Allegra's there, but not  ^**gunner? I don't think so.

^**No one wearing a hat and playing bass.

[martin_fierro]

You Who.

[Humbug]

lol, i think you’re on to something there. Apparently there’s much more to be gleaned from that time than even i (a devoted student of the Flintstone epoch) realized.

[varmintman]

Modern gorillas are advanced apes. They cannot learn English because they do not have voluntary control over breathing but some of the ones which have been taught deaf signs check out as having IQs in the 90 - 105 range which is adequate for half the jobs in the world. Oh, yeah, standing upright...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxDI3s21yf8

Like the Neanderthal, gorillas can do most of the things we do, but they are not human and we could not interbreed with them. Soviet scientists tried that during the Stalin years, and none of the subjects survived.

[Allegra]

My wife tells me that whenever I “cook” a steak just enough to get rid of the moo.

I'm the same way....I like to kind of have to chase it off the plate.

[Allegra]

You are too kind. {blush}