Comparing Genomes Shows Split Between Chimps and People

NY Times ^ | December 12, 2003 | NICHOLAS WADE

[general_re]

Interesting. Do you have a reference where I can catch up, perhaps, since I seem to be a bit behind now...

[Pharmboy]

Excellent analogy...thanks.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Much of the human genome is just there to ensure that we are mammals.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[RightWingNilla]

Imagine it, a world with chimps and humans living and working side-by-side.

Do you think we will someday be able to make orangutans talk also?

[RightWingNilla]

Hillary and Margaret Thatcher both have 100% human genetic material. Yet Hillary isn't even "barely human."

ROFL! That ones a keeper PH.

[Blueflag]

Nah -- I think the science is sound.

I'll admit to pulling a bit of a Lazmataz -- posting without reading the entire article.

Clearly the sequences can be mapped, and the similarities are as striking as the impact of seemingly tiny differences.

[Dimensio]

Do you think we will someday be able to make orangutans talk also?

Hasn't Michael Moore already appeared on many talk shows?

[Junior]

A 12% difference in the genome is huge when it comes to how the genes are expressed.

Except that it's 1.2 percent. Humans and chimps are 98.8 percent indentical...

[Dimensio]

Phsaw. 12%, 1.2%, what's the diference?

[Junior]

It's that lack of rigorous fact checking that gives creationism such a bad name...

[RightWingNilla]

Hasn't Michael Moore already appeared on many talk shows?

Hey don't go insulting orangutans!

[RightWingNilla]

Except that it's 1.2 percent.

And even among that 1.2 percent, a lot of the differences are probably neutral.

[BiffWondercat]

will someday lead to chimps that can talk. Imagine it, a world with chimps and humans living and working side-by-side. This is a bad idea. Made for some cool movies though.

[PatrickHenry]

Except that it's 1.2 percent [not 12%]. Humans and chimps are 98.8 percent indentical...

Well, you know ... in for a dime, in for a dollar. (It's rare when I can say that where it's so precisely applicable.)

[Blueflag]

You are correct.

Note to self: wear your glasses when reading numbers online.

We regret the error ;-)

[VadeRetro]

Surprised this thread didn't generate more heat from a certain crowd. Cognitive dissonance?

[PatrickHenry]

The hard-core crazies are mostly banned, and presumably live a cyber-life of spiritual paridise at another website. I think it was mostly one of them who used to ping the others. So now it's just hit-or-miss as to whether the average creos stumble into a good thread.

[VadeRetro]

Banned, but not necessarily gone.