Svante Paabo's research shows us that human groups--southern Africans, Western Europeans, Native Americans--are closely related, despite superficial distinctions.
Here's what we learn about the Neanderthals:
Neanderthals contributed little, if any, DNA to modern humans. Instead, they appear to have been displaced by modern humans--the taller, more graceful creatures with round skulls and prominent chins who first appear in the fossil record in eastern Africa about 200,000 years ago. The Neanderthals retreated into more remote parts of Europe before going extinct.
So we did them in. We're the humans that supplanted the Neanderthals: Humans 2.0.
"In a sense, we are all Africans, though some of us have gone to live in exile," says Paabo.
So the Republicans - teabaggers, birthers, and their propaganda machine at FOX News - are not Neanderthals. They're just plain ignorant.
Here's what we learn about the Neanderthals:
Neanderthals contributed little, if any, DNA to modern humans. Instead, they appear to have been displaced by modern humans--the taller, more graceful creatures with round skulls and prominent chins who first appear in the fossil record in eastern Africa about 200,000 years ago. The Neanderthals retreated into more remote parts of Europe before going extinct.
So we did them in. We're the humans that supplanted the Neanderthals: Humans 2.0.
"In a sense, we are all Africans, though some of us have gone to live in exile," says Paabo.
So the Republicans - teabaggers, birthers, and their propaganda machine at FOX News - are not Neanderthals. They're just plain ignorant.
