Humans And Neanderthals Interbred, Suggest Scientists
May 7th, 2010 - 7:07 pm ICT by GDBy Gina Gomez
Leipzig, May 7, (THAINDIAN NEWS) A group of scientists working at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig have come up with a theory which suggests that humans probably mated with neanderthals during the early stages of evolution. Neanderthals are a hominid species in some ways similar to humans which have become extinct more than 20,000 years ago. They essentially inhabited the Neanderthal valley near Dsseldorf. Their remains have been found in almost all the countries of Europe from Britain to Russia.
After more than four years of research, the scientists have come up with the conclusion that when a Neanderthal genome is sequenced, we get the genetic code of an extinct human being. This further opens up a possibility of Neanderthals mating with early humans.
The research first started when scientists found samples from three bones found in a cave in Croatia during the the 1980s. A sample, the size of a small pill, was dug out from the center of an almost 38000 year old bone. This sample was then grounded and the powder was mixed with chemicals to release the DNA of the bone fragments. Small fragments of the DNA samples had to be multiplied a million times, only then could the scientists in Leipzig arrive at the conclusion. Although the initial reports of the research were released last year, the report that was submitted by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology on Thursday, is being considered as the first discovery of its kind which suggests that humans and neanderthals may actually be related to one another.
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- Analyzing DNA directly from 30,000-year-old modern humans now made possible - Jan 01, 2010
- Half a gram of Neanderthal bone enough to discover genome - Feb 13, 2009
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- Humans Have Genes Of Neanderthals - May 07, 2010
- Differences in human and Neanderthal brains set in first year of life - Nov 09, 2010
- Europe was populated by Kashmiris around 40,000 years ago: Study - Apr 03, 2011
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