Monthly Archives: Juli 2012

Frühmenschen jagten schon vor 40.000 Jahren mit Pfeil und Bogen

Posted on 31. Juli 2012
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TranslationModerne Jäger-und-Sammler-Kultur begann in Afrika früher als gedacht Die Jäger und Sammler Südafrikas lebten schon vor 40.000 Jahren so wie noch heute: Sie jagten mit Pfeil und Bogen, nutzen Bienenwachs als Klebstoff und vergifteten ihre Pfeile mit einem Sud aus den Samen des Rizinusbaums. Das zeigen Fundstücke aus der Border Cave, einer Höhle in den Lebombo-Bergen an der Grenze zwischen Südafrika und Swasiland. Sie belegen, dass fortgeschrittene Jäger-und-Sammler-Kulturen in Südafrika schon 20.000 Jahre früher existierten als bislang angenommen. Der Übergang zur Jungsteinzeit erfolgte damit in dieser Region etwa zeitgleich mit dem in Europa. Dort habe diese Ära begonnen, als der …

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Modern culture 44,000 years ago

Posted on 31. Juli 2012
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Rock paintings from the Western Cape

TranslationHuman behavior, as we know it, emerged earlier than previously thought An international team of researchers, including scientists from Wits University, have substantially increased the age at which we can trace the emergence of modern culture, all thanks to the San people of Africa. The research by the team, consisting of scientists from South Africa, France, Italy, Norway, the USA and Britain, will be published in two articles online in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The paper titled “Early evidence of San material culture represented by organic artifacts from Border Cave, South Africa” was authored by …

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A new Amish community is founded every three-and-a-half weeks

Posted on 30. Juli 2012
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TranslationA new census of the Amish population in the United States estimates that a new Amish community is founded, on average, about every 3 ½ weeks, and shows that more than 60 percent of all existing Amish settlements have been founded since 1990. This pattern suggests the Amish are growing more rapidly than most other religions in the United States, researchers say. Unlike other religious groups, however, the growth is not driven by converts joining the faith, but instead can be attributed to large families and high rates of baptism. In all, the census counts almost 251,000 Amish in the …

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We are all Anglo-Saxons now

Posted on 30. Juli 2012
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Translation I’m kind of wary of getting into political debates at this point because it’s not my primary interest (additionally, people with stronger political views often end up willfully misrepresenting me because they think I’m taking specific sides, even if they actually guess my preferences incorrectly!). But the whole Mitt Romney-Anglo-Saxon heritage kerfuffle has now gotten under my skin. What prompted my agitation is a post over at The Atlantic by Max Fisher, Sorry, Romney: Neither America Nor the U.K. Are ‘Anglo-Saxon’ Countries. There are two dimensions to this, the positive and the normative. Most of you are probably aware …

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Humanity 2.0

Posted on 30. Juli 2012
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TranslationDienekes points to a David Reich video where he shows his hand as to future possible results to come out of his lab. The short of it is that it seems likely that most agricultural populations exhibit the same dynamic outlined in Reconstructing Indian History. At the least you have an intrusive group admixing with indigenes. At the extreme you have total replacement. The pattern is confirmed for India, Ethiopia, and Southeast Asia. It seems highly likely in Europe. There are other rumored results in East Asia which might shake things up. On a minor note, I do want to …

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International workshop on Evolution in the Time of Genomics

Posted on 29. Juli 2012
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TranslationInternational workshop on Evolution in the Time of Genomics 7 — 9 May 2012 | Venice, Italy Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti Palazzo Franchetti   All videos can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/user/istitutoveneto

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Tenth anniversary of Stephen Jay Gould

Posted on 29. Juli 2012
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TranslationMay 20, 2012 will be the tenth anniversary of Stephen Jay Gould’s death. Palaeontologist at the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, eminent evolutionary biologist, science writer, science historian and opinion maker, Gould gave us an extended and revised version of the theory of evolution, his “Darwinian pluralism”, which is today an excellent frame for understanding the scientific advancements in many evolutionary fields. His anticipating intuitions about the conjunction of evolution and development, the role of ecological and biogeographical factors in speciation, the need for a multi-level interpretation of the units of selection, the interplay between functional pressures and internal …

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New evidence for archaic admixture in African hunter gatherers

Posted on 27. Juli 2012
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TranslationAt the end of last year I predicted that full genome sequencing would begin turning up evidence for more archaic admixture in Africa. Halfway into the year, it appears that my prediction has proven to be correct: a new study in Cell by Lachance et al. documents the existence of such admixture between an archaic hominin and Pygmies from Cameroon, and the East African Hadza and Sandawe. Archaic admixture in Biaka and San was previously detected by Hammer et al. Hence, we now have evidence for archaic admixture from several regions that encompass all major regions within sub-Saharan Africa. It …

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The Diversity of the African Genome & Traces of an Unknown Hominin

Posted on 27. Juli 2012
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Map showing the distribution of the Khoisan languages (yellow)

Translation The most comprehensive look at the genome of Africans is published in the journal Cell today. The paper titled, “Evolutionary History and Adaptation from High-Coverage Whole-Genome Sequences of Diverse African Hunter-Gatherers,” focused on three hunter-gatherer populations; Pygmies from Cameroon and two groups from Tanzania, the Khoesan-speaking Hadza and Sandawe. The publication covered each of the genomes of five individuals from these groups over 60 times. The paper ultimately outlines some interesting findings, such as a new understanding on the extent of genetic diversity, and mysterious admixture. We already have known that genetic diversity of people in Africa is greater …

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Citizen researchers help unlock European genetic heritage

Posted on 26. Juli 2012
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TranslationA University of Sheffield academic is helping a team of citizen scientists to carry out crucial research into European genetic heritage. Citizen Scientists are not required to have a scientific background or training, but instead they possess a passion for the subject and are increasingly being empowered by the scientific community to get involved in research. Dr Andy Grierson, from the University of Sheffield’s Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN), has helped a team of citizen scientists from Europe and North America to identify vital new clues to tell the story of Europe’s genetic history. Dr Grierson explained: “Understanding European history …

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Genomic study of Africa’s hunter-gatherers elucidates human variation and ancient interbreeding

Posted on 26. Juli 2012
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TranslationHuman diversity in Africa is greater than any place else on Earth. Differing food sources, geographies, diseases and climates offered many targets for natural selection to exert powerful forces on Africans to change and adapt to their local environments. The individuals who adapted best were the most likely to reproduce and pass on their genomes to the generations who followed. That history of inheritance is written in the DNA of modern Africans, but it takes some investigative work to interpret. In a report to be featured on the cover of the Aug. 3 issue of the journal Cell, University of …

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Olympia: Gene, Doping und Medaillen

Posted on 26. Juli 2012
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TranslationBislang sind beim Doping noch immer vor allem die klassischen Wirkstoffe, Anabolika, EPO und andere Substanzen die Regel. Aber in Zukunft – und möglicherweise sogar schon jetzt – könnten Athleten auch zur genetischen Manipulation greifen. Denn Gendoping ist längst nicht mehr ein bloßes Zukunftsszenario. Konkrete Methoden, Mittel und Anwendungen gibt es bereits. Und auch an entsprechenden Nachweismethoden wird mit Hochdruck geforscht. Ab dem 27. Juli ist es wieder soweit: Bei den olympischen Sommerspielen in London werden Spitzensportler aus aller Welt wieder um Siege, Medaillen und Platzierungen kämpfen. Wie viele von ihnen ihre Leistung illegalen Hilfsmitteln verdanken, wird auch diesmal vermutlich …

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Geno 2.0 is coming

Posted on 26. Juli 2012
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TranslationThe Genographic Project is now moving beyond uniparental lineages with Geno 2.0. Spencer Wells kindly invited me to a conference call last month where he outlined a lot of the details, so I’ll hit the salient points for readers of this weblog: * They’re unveiling a new SNP-chip and a new project which moves beyond the Y and mtDNA to the autosome. But they’re also expanding their coverage of uniparental markers. * Though there are “only” autosomal 130,000 markers, Wells and his collaborators have selected a subset of markers which are highly informative of population structure (e.g., high Fst). Their …

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Do Invasive Mitochondria Spread by Drift or Selection?

Posted on 25. Juli 2012
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TranslationMany species are not really “species” according to the biological species concept. They are not reproductively isolated from their closest relatives. A little bit of hybridization occurs in nature leading to the invasion of “foreign” alleles into the main population; a phenomenon known as gene flow. Sometimes the invading alleles can become fixed (or very prevalent) in the population. This is what is presumed to have happened with Neanderthal or Denisovan alleles in modern humans. Rare matings between modern human ancestors and Neanderthal, for example, led to some gene flow between the populations [How many species of humans were there?]. …

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Heimkinder haben weniger graue Zellen

Posted on 24. Juli 2012
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Magnetresonanztomographieaufnahmen eines menschlichen Gehirns

TranslationDefizite in den ersten Lebensmonaten hinterlassen Spuren im Gehirn  Wenn Kinder ihre ersten Lebensmonate und -jahre im Heim verbringen, verändert dies ihr Gehirn nachhaltig: Ihre Hirnrinde ist dünner und auch bestimmte elektrische Signale im Gehirn sind dauerhaft geschwächt. Das haben US-amerikanische Forscher bei rumänischen Heimkindern festgestellt. Ihre Studie zeigt aber auch, dass das Gehirn einige Defizite wieder wettmachen kann: Kamen die Heimkinder bereits als Zweijährige oder früher zu Pflegeeltern, holten einige Hirnbereiche ihr Wachstum nach. Dazu gehörten der Balken, der beide Hirnteile verbindet und die weiße Materie – der Bereich des Gehirns, in dem Nervenfasern für die schnelle Weiterleitung von …

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