Father of all humankind is 340,000 years old

[davidmash]

Father of all humankind is 340,000 years old

DNA evidence has revealed that the oldest known common male ancestor is 340,000 years old, more than twice as old as previous estimates.

New Scientist reports that the sample comes from a recently deceased man named Albert Perry. After the African-American South Carolina man died, one of his relatives submitted a sample of his DNA to a company called Family Tree DNA for analysis.

[kerry]

Fascinating.

[davidmash]

Genetics always confused the heck out of me in school. I read the article and still have a hard time wrapping my head around it. I am glad we have geneticists who understand this stuff.

I think it is pretty neat to have an idea of where 'man' started.

[Jorn]

But where comes the number 340,000 from?

Oh, I didn't see the link. http://www.cell.com/AJHG/retrieve/pii/S0002929713000736

[MTI]

Originally Posted by davidmash

Father of all humankind is 340,000 years old

How old was the serpent in the garden?

[davidmash]

Guess we will never know. My cat brought it's dead carcass into the house earlier to day and freaked Ms. Mash out.

[elchivito]

Another trick played on atheist scientists by the Devil Hisself. Like the dinosaurs and those other fossils.

[Jim B.]

Originally Posted by elchivito

Another trick played on atheist scientists by the Devil Hisself. Like the dinosaurs and those other fossils.

"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. And like that, poof. He's gone".


~~ Verbal Kint (played by Kevin Spacey), "The Usual Suspects", (1995)

[MTI]

Notice that the Holy See is not waiving its excommunication stick.

[Benz Dr.]

Originally Posted by MTI

Notice that the Holy See is not waiving its excommunication stick.

Probably because their too busy right now. In the past they did a lot of stick waving and it was only when the house of cards came down did we have even a small idea of how many.

[kerry]

Looks like you have to be a subscriber to read the original piece. Not sure I could have understood it anyway, but I'd like to read it straight from the researcher's pen. I'm curious as to how similar the related species would have been to us to pass along the Y chromosome. Would that 340,000 yr old ancestor have had speech for example?

[elchivito]

The whole ancestral DNA testing thing is interesting. I have been thinking about doing it, but 2-500 dollars buys a lot of whiskey.
My ancient ancestry vs. a good manhattan. So far it's a no brainer.

[Mike D]

Originally Posted by kerry

Would that 340,000 yr old ancestor have had speech for example?

Shucks, after talking to some of the adolescents around here I'm not sure if "modern man" has speech ability!

[kerry]

I've thought of doing the DNA testing also. From what I recall, National Geographic had some kind of testing available that was also integrated into scientific study. My cousin's son did some genealogical research and claims I'm descended from Captain Morgan. If so, it would have to have been from a sexual relationship with one of his slaves since his wife was infertile. That might show up genetically.

[Mike D]

You want to be careful of what you read into DNA testing. The tests only show you what line you belong to. When you go more than a generation or two back it gets cloudy. Just because you share a common ancestor doesn't mean you have a direct familial connection to them. 2nd cousins can show the same DNA trace but may never have met or even live in the same continent.