Ancient humans, dubbed 'Denisovans', interbred with us

[muriel_volestrangler]

The ancient humans have been dubbed "Denisovans" after the caves in Siberia where their remains were found.

There is also evidence that this population was widespread in Eurasia.

A study in Nature journal shows that Denisovans co-existed with Neanderthals and interbred with our species - perhaps around 50,000 years ago.
...
The study shows that Denisovans interbred with the ancestors of the present day people of the Melanesian region north and north-east of Australia. Melanesian DNA comprises between 4% and 6% Denisovan DNA.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12059564

Further coverage:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/23/science/23ancestor.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/dec/22/fossilised-finger-human-relatives-denisovans

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. I think I dated that guy.

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Does the Bible/Dinosaur Museum know about this??????????????

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[MineralMan]

3. They're the descendants of Cain, you see, or maybe Ham.

There's a scripture for that, I'm sure.

[Kennah]

5. It's true!

Ham married Rye. Yay verily, and he laid down with her. And when she gave birth to a son, Mayo, Ham held him high above his head for the Lord to see.

We know this parable today as Ham on Rye, hold the Mayo.

[MineralMan]

7. Cool. You learn something every day!

[NBachers]

8. Post of the Day!

[BrklynLiberal]

9. I actaully did laugh out loud!!!! Thanks.

[Still a Democrat]

14. How do you rec a post?

Good stuff.

[anamandujano]

16. LOL!!!! Reminds me of

a scene in Intolerable Cruelty.

Successful lawyer George Clooney has to meet an investigator in a greasy spoon diner. His order--"I'll have a ham sandwich on stale rye bread. Heavy on the mayo, easy on the ham."

[BridgeTheGap]

4. No. They clearly missed the boat. n/t

[leveymg]

6. Welcome to the family . . . Meet the folks . . .

Can we get you a beer?

[roguevalley]

11. It should not be forgot and it always is that Neandertal people

had bigger brains than us, that they understood the idea of life beyond this rock before us, they buried their people lovingly before us and I'm not convinced that all the cave art out there was painted by us. Could be, given the rise of sea levels that a lot of what and who they are was pushed under the sea. I like and love them. They were worthy.

[loudsue]

12. Surely they didn't have any such hairdo.

The first dude resembles Chubaca.

[qazplm]

17. the guy next to him

resembles Han so it's apropos.

[Permanut]

10. You ain't gonna convince me....

that I have any of that surrender-monkey French in my family! Next you'll be saying the earth is more than 6,000 years old.

:sarcasm:

[Odin2005]

13. Amazing stuff.

[Still a Democrat]

15. Does this somehow explain Dubya?