Grunt If You’re Horny!

Continuing with my Neanderthal obsession (see here and especially here), a new study reopens the debate over whether Brutus and Olive Oyl got their freak on.

Here‘s how the New York Times describes it:

In research being published online this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists reported that matings between Neanderthals and modern humans presumably accounted for the presence of a variant of the gene that regulates brain size. …

In previous research, Dr. Lahn and associates discovered that a gene for brain size called microcephalin underwent a significant change 37,000 years ago. Its modified variant, or allele, appeared to confer a fitness advantage on those who possessed it. It is now present in about 70 percent of the world’s population.

The new research focused on the two classes of alleles of the brain gene. One appeared to have emerged 1.1 million years ago in an archaic Homo lineage that led to Neanderthals and was separate from the immediate predecessors of modern humans. The 37,000-year date for the other variant immediately suggested a connection with Neanderthals.

Dr. Lahn said it did not necessarily show that interbreeding was widespread. It could have been a rare, perhaps even single, event.

Imagine: A guy who looks like this is walking along the road to extinction when he meets up with her. Nine months later, she gives birth to someone who grows up to look something like this. Their ancestors might look like this happy couple.

And just 37,000 years later, here we are.

Tags: Tags: science