Posted on 08/19/2007 5:45:36 PM PDT by blam
Source: University of California, Davis
Date: August 16, 2007
Handsome By Chance: Why Humans Look Different From Neanderthals
Science Daily — Chance, not natural selection, best explains why the modern human skull looks so different from that of its Neanderthal relative, according to a new study led by Tim Weaver, assistant professor of anthropology at UC Davis.
Model of the Neanderthal man. Exhibited in the Dinosaur Park Münchehagen, Germany. (Credit: iStockphoto/Klaus Nilkens)
"For 150 years, scientists have tried to decipher why Neanderthal skulls are different from those of modern humans," Weaver said. "Most accounts have emphasized natural selection and the possible adaptive value of either Neanderthal or modern human traits. We show that instead, random changes over the past 500,000 years or so – since Neanderthals and modern humans became isolated from each other – are the best explanation for these differences."
Weaver and his colleagues compared cranial measurements of 2,524 modern human skulls and 20 Neanderthal specimens, then contrasted those results with genetic information from a separate sample of 1,056 modern humans.
The scientists concluded that Neanderthals did not develop their protruding mid-faces as an adaptation to icy Pleistocene weather or the demands of using teeth as tools, and the retracted faces of modern humans are not an adaptation for language, as some anthropologists have proposed.
Instead, random "genetic drift" is the likeliest reason for these skull differences.
Weaver conducted the research with Charles Roseman, an anthropologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London.
The study appears in the August issue of the Journal of Human Evolution.
Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University of California, Davis.
>>>Why Humans Look Different From Neanderthals
I’ve been on a few blind dates in my date that proves they don’t.
it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe.
Rare. But not unknown?
That’s pretty suggestive.
oh c’mon. We all know that space aliens adapted our DNA cause some government worker started asking questions about their experiments.
Earth? Never heard of it.
Humans? We haven’t done a thing to them.
:)
Instead, random "genetic drift" is the likeliest reason for these skull differences.no surprise there.
:’) Yes, the first dentist was a Neandertal. ;’)
I thought you pinged me here to find handsome men... show me!
Oh, as if you need *my* help finding handsome men, you gorgeous red-haired vixen.
You rang? *grin*
Yes, this thread is showing a serious lack of handsome men...
I think they have abused the word “handsome.”
Who can we sue for this outrage?
Hahaha. I think I need to find a pic of my husband and post it on here to raise the “handsome-value” of this thread!
Merely in the middle 20 percentile.
Liberals and hippyyippyskippypinkos occupy the top tier.
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Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. |
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