Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Mitochondrial Eve and Near Extinction
From the Chicago Tribune:
Why does this sound familiar? Eve? A brush with extinction? Today's population growing from just a few? Oh, what is it about this that sounds familiar? Why do I feel like I've heard this before somewhere?
Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests.
The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday.
The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age...
Previous studies using mitochondrial DNA _ which is passed down through mothers _ have traced modern humans to a single "mitochondrial Eve," who lived in Africa about 200,000 years ago.
The migrations of humans out of Africa to populate the rest of the world appear to have begun about 60,000 years ago, but little has been known about humans between Eve and that dispersal.
Why does this sound familiar? Eve? A brush with extinction? Today's population growing from just a few? Oh, what is it about this that sounds familiar? Why do I feel like I've heard this before somewhere?
2 Comments:
Was it in Amazing Comics #1? I don't know what you mean.
PAX
JD
The one from 1944 starring the Young Allies?
Come to think of it, that mitochondrial Eve sounds a bit like Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.
Post a Comment
<< Home