Live data from Hacker News

Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human and Neanderthal History

theatlantic.com

1–10 of 79 posts

Re: Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human and Neanderthal History

#3
post #2

>Today, surprisingly, the people carrying the most Neanderthal DNA are not in Europe but in East Asia Interesting, I would love to see more information on this -- I had not heard this previously.

The title of the article Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human (and Neanderthal) History directly implies that such people are less human due to carrying more Neanderthal DNA. That the subject of the implication is non-Europeans has a long tradition in the mainstream US magazine business. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/04/from-the...

Re: Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human and Neanderthal History

#4
post #2

>Today, surprisingly, the people carrying the most Neanderthal DNA are not in Europe but in East Asia Interesting, I would love to see more information on this -- I had not heard this previously.

I have not heard that either. According to 23andMe, I'm in the 99th percentile for Neanderthal DNA variants and my ancestry report claims I'm a disappointingly un-diverse 99.9% European.

Re: Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human and Neanderthal History

#5
post #4
post #2

>Today, surprisingly, the people carrying the most Neanderthal DNA are not in Europe but in East Asia Interesting, I would love to see more information on this -- I had not heard this previously.

I have not heard that either. According to 23andMe, I'm in the 99th percentile for Neanderthal DNA variants and my ancestry report claims I'm a disappointingly un-diverse 99.9% European.

> disappointingly un-diverse

I... What does this even mean? Are you ashamed of your heritage?

Re: Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human and Neanderthal History

#6
post #4
post #2

>Today, surprisingly, the people carrying the most Neanderthal DNA are not in Europe but in East Asia Interesting, I would love to see more information on this -- I had not heard this previously.

I have not heard that either. According to 23andMe, I'm in the 99th percentile for Neanderthal DNA variants and my ancestry report claims I'm a disappointingly un-diverse 99.9% European.

IMO you should never be disappointed with your genetic makeup. It's part of what makes you you, and I can't think of any meaningful difference between people with ancestors from many regions and those with ancestors from one region.

Re: Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human and Neanderthal History

#7
What an awesome antidote to today's depressing story about white nationalists coopting Black Panther as an affirmation of ethnicity-based political states. If science can keep reminding people how random and fragile current ethnic or national divisions are in the face of time, maybe more people will focus on building knowledge that lasts longer.

Re: Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human and Neanderthal History

#8
post #2

>Today, surprisingly, the people carrying the most Neanderthal DNA are not in Europe but in East Asia Interesting, I would love to see more information on this -- I had not heard this previously.

It makes fairly logical sense. Neanderthals were fairly well-installed in Europe when modern humans appeared in Africa. As modern humans would have expanded northward into Europe, done their thing with the Neanderthals, (some breeding, lots of killing), and continued eastward, so the human population still in Africa would probably have no Neanderthal DNA, but the population in Asia would carry the results of some interbreeding with Neanderthals.

The question this brings up is how different are Neanderthals from Homo sapiens? I was taught that the definition of a species is that two individuals could reproduce and have fertile offspring. It seems there are exceptions to this rule, (as Neanderthals and Homo sapiens are different species).

Re: Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human and Neanderthal History

#9
post #5
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not heard that either. According to 23andMe, I'm in the 99th percentile for Neanderthal DNA variants and my ancestry report claims I'm a disappointingly un-diverse 99.9% European.

> disappointingly un-diverse I... What does this even mean? Are you ashamed of your heritage?

It probably means he was hoping for a fun surprise, (Something like You're 10% Inca!), but didn't get one.

I did the same thing - my Ancestry test came back with a whole lot of "Western Europe" - even more than I expected, actually.

Re: Ancient DNA Is Rewriting Human and Neanderthal History

#10
post #5
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have not heard that either. According to 23andMe, I'm in the 99th percentile for Neanderthal DNA variants and my ancestry report claims I'm a disappointingly un-diverse 99.9% European.

> disappointingly un-diverse I... What does this even mean? Are you ashamed of your heritage?

It would be more interesting to find something unexpected I would think.
Post reply on HN