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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSome Pacific Islanders Have DNA Not Linked To Any Known Human Ancestor
http://all-that-is-interesting.com/pacific-islanders-ancestor?utm_campaign=pdsoban&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialMost everyone knows that the islands of the South Pacific are some of the most remote and unique places on Earth, but a new study reveals just how unique they really are.
According to a report from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, researchers have found traces of a previously unknown extinct hominid species in the DNA of the Melanesians, a group living in an area northeast of Australia that encompasses Papua New Guinea and the surrounding islands.
A computer analysis suggests that the unidentified ancestral hominid species found in Melanesian DNA is unlikely to be either Neanderthal or Denisovan, the two known predecessors of humankind to this point.
Archaeologists have found many Neanderthal fossils in Europe and Asia, and although the only Denisovan DNA comes from a finger bone and a couple of teeth discovered in a Siberian cave, both species are well represented in the fossil record.
But now genetic modeling of the Melanesians has revealed a third, different human ancestor that may be an extinct, distinct cousin of the Neanderthals.
Leith
(7,809 posts)It looks like I should watch the documentary on the Human Genome Project again, even though it doesn't have this new information.
WhiteTara
(29,706 posts)but I don't want those companies to own my dna.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)Pacifist Patriot
(24,653 posts)as did my husband. He has double the world average of Neanderthal DNA...thereby proving what I have suspected all along.
WhiteTara
(29,706 posts)I would think all that Neanderthal dna would make him kind and caring and artistic. Their life seemed to be a very harmonious one.
Yupster
(14,308 posts)We did ours through National Geographic too. Seems to be mostly Celtic. Very early into Europe. My ancestors may have killed off those last Neanderthals.
WhiteTara
(29,706 posts)all rolled into one human life...no wonder the world is crazy.
Pacifist Patriot
(24,653 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)WhiteTara
(29,706 posts)ROB-ROX
(767 posts)This planet is becoming more complex as science becomes better. There is no telling how the bible people will live with this news? I am just glad someone out there is still looking to connect the dots.........
WhiteTara
(29,706 posts)at work still in this crazy world.
Welcome to DU
GetRidOfThem
(869 posts)That is so easy: God PLANTED those DNA sequences and them fossils for the researchers and archeologists, it's his gift to them .
bitterross
(4,066 posts)That's where fossils that scientists say are over 6000 years-old come from. Don't ya know.
gtar100
(4,192 posts)Not that they won't try...it's their modus operandi with information that contradicts their world view. Can you imagine what this world might be like if they didn't destroy the Library of Alexandria or destroy all the books of the Mayans. Utter shame.
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Modern humans have more ancestors than Neanderthals and Denisovians,
WhiteTara
(29,706 posts)a bit dumbed down for the average reader.
Kleveland
(1,257 posts)not fooled
(5,801 posts)modern-day republicans
Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)Believing that would be so much more fun than the truth.
Mrs. Overall
(6,839 posts)Thanks for posting this!
moriah
(8,311 posts)Human Origins is the name of the class, taught by the leader of the team that discovered Lucy.
If you want the credit for the class with Arizona State you have to pay a proctoring fee then pay the credit hours if you pass, but it's open to anyone to audit if they just want to know more.
Many, many different hominids exited Africa before homo sapiens. Whether interbreeding was likely to have been attempted or been successful is unknown, but is definitely a possibility.
Especially if they retained the same number of chromosomes. Horses, donkeys, and zebras all evolved from a common ancestor 4.5 million years ago, but the reason mules are infertile is that during that time either donkeys lost or horses gained an extra pair of chromosomes. But they will still attempt to breed because mating signals aren't all that different.
SwissTony
(2,560 posts)I don't have time to do it now, so I was hoping to go through it later. But it starts on Jan 8, 2018. Plenty of time for me to make time for that course.
And it's in English!! Who knew Americans could speak English??
(Just kidding, my American friends - I'm Australian and, for sure, we don't speak English).
Thanks for the info, Moriah. That looks like a great course. I've already signed up.
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)just practicing a foreign language
SwissTony
(2,560 posts)It's viewed as pretty negative.
We Aussies have had (and still have) a few attitudes towards women and our indigenous people that we can't be proud of.
Just give us a fair suck of the saveloy. We're better than we used to be.
Cheers, mate. Good onya.
justhanginon
(3,290 posts)Unfortunately, we are not better than we used to be just 10 months ago.
WhiteTara
(29,706 posts)The course sounds fascinating. I'll look into auditing. I don't need credit, just greater understanding.
stopwastingmymoney
(2,042 posts)I'm going to look into it too. I loved my college Anthropology course.
keithbvadu2
(36,793 posts)csziggy
(34,136 posts)Scientists now believe 5,000,000 sq km mass served as a land bridge millions of years ago
Jon Sharman
Thursday 5 October 2017 12:15 BST
Scientists have uncovered more than 8,000 fossils during an expedition to a lost, underwater continent in the Pacific Ocean.
Drilling into the crust of Zealandia, thousands of feet below the surface, researchers discovered the remains of hundreds of species including pollen from land plants.
The land mass, on which New Zealand sits, was announced as the globe's newest continent earlier this year. It spans 5,000,000 sq km and is a distinct geological entity, a landmark study declared in the summer.
Read more
Life on Earth nearly four billion years old, new fossil suggests
Now it is believed Zealandia was once much closer to the ocean's surface and may have served as a land bridge for animals moving around the south Pacific region.
More: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/zealandia-voyage-fossil-specimens-found-scientists-sunken-continent-pacific-ocean-new-zealand-a7984106.html
WhiteTara
(29,706 posts)how did they find it? I haven't kept up with this.
csziggy
(34,136 posts)Achilleaze
(15,543 posts)Obviously
KWR65
(1,098 posts)It is a conspiracy of the devil I tell ya!
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,339 posts)Brainstormy
(2,380 posts)and another nail in the Adam and Eve bullshit story.
ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)In fact, they only have circumstantial evidence that it must have existed. This is kind of like homo floresiensis, the 'hobbit people' in Indonesia.
longship
(40,416 posts)SkyDaddy7
(6,045 posts)I still go to YouTube & watch clips of them just to laugh...Their humor never gets old to me.
Sneederbunk
(14,290 posts)democratisphere
(17,235 posts)the world. Thank you for this update on recent discoveries; article was fascinating.
DFW
(54,370 posts)The more we realize how much we don't know.
samnsara
(17,622 posts)Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)dalton99a
(81,485 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)WhiteTara
(29,706 posts)which is a translation of early tablets that tells the life story of Innana. How she gains knowledge and goes to the Underworld and returns. I recommend it highly.
moriah
(8,311 posts)Had several different Sumerian myths, including how she met the husband that doesn't mourn her in the later Descent story.
Part of the required reading in my trad, even if I'm more drawn to the Mabinogion.
WhiteTara
(29,706 posts)I think it may be the same book as that was part of the story I read.
Who is Mabinogion? I'll have to look her up.
moriah
(8,311 posts)The Mabinogion is a collection of Celtic mythology, including the story of Rhiannon, etc.
I don't know who did the translation I had of it, but I had been lucky enough to find a hardback version.
WhiteTara
(29,706 posts)I'll research