Scientists discover most fertile Irish male

[emad]

Scientists discover most fertile Irish male
By Siobhan Kennedy | January 17, 2006

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Scientists in Ireland may have found the country's most fertile male, with more than 3 million men worldwide among his offspring.

The scientists, from Trinity College Dublin, have discovered that as many as one in twelve Irish men could be descended from Niall of the Nine Hostages, a 5th-century warlord who was head of the most powerful dynasty in ancient Ireland.

His genetic legacy is almost as impressive as Genghis Khan, the Mongol emperor who conquered most of Asia in the 13th century and has nearly 16 million descendants, said Dan Bradley, who supervised the research.

"It's another link between profligacy and power," Bradley told Reuters. "We're the first generation on the planet where if you're successful you don't (always) have more children."

http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/01/17/scientists_discover_most_fertile_irish_male/?p1=MEWell_Pos1

[joeybee12]

1. Daddy!

Actually, that's so far back many of us who don't consider ourselves Irish might even be traced to him!

[emad]

2. Last week BBC news ran a story saying 50% of all Jewish people

are descended from just four Jewish women.

Don't know if any of these gals ever got together with the Irish stallion, might have been interesting.

[Sal Minella]

8. That was just the Ashkenazi Jews, not all Jews. eom

[Peace Patriot]

3. Successful at WHAT?

"We're the first generation on the planet where if you're successful you don't (always) have more children."

Successful at slaugther, pillage and rape?

It's fine with me if those genes don't get passed on.

And what is Patrick Fitzgerald's picture doing there? Are you saying he's descended from "Niall of the Nine Hostages"? (He's one step from Ireland, is our Patrick. Parents came over.) Well, if he is--if that's how the genes have refined themselves over the millenium--into "Irish warlords against Bush"--we might have something there.

We have a bit of a problem with men writing history, you know. They think Genghis Khan was "successful." (The model for our modern CEOs and Presidents?)

[emad]

4. What's the male-version of the word 'fecund'?

?

[Mabus]

6. "busy bee"

at least that's the word my mother-in-law used for my father-in-law.

[Peace Patriot]

5. Hey, what happened to Patrick Fitzgerald's picture? Were my eyes

deceiving me? You posted his pix under this OP, didn't ye? I saw it. I swear. Then it was gone. But I don't see any edit. Strange thing, the mind.

[emad]

7. Upgrading it now. It disappeared and was replaced by a wee red

cross in a little white box.....

[Ian David]

9. See also, "The Journey of Man," National Geographic Documentary

In this cool series, we met a man in Afghanastan who is the direct descendant of the man from whom all the non-African, non-Aboriginese descended.

It was just on TV a few days ago.

Might still be available through "On Demand" services.

Documentary Redraws Humans' Family Tree
Hillary Mayell
for National Geographic News
January 21, 2003

View Photo Gallery >>

By analyzing DNA from people in all regions of the world, geneticist Spencer Wells has concluded that all humans alive today are descended from a single man who lived in Africa around 60,000 years ago.

Modern humans, he contends, didn't start their spread across the globe until after that time. Most archaeologists would say the exodus began 100,000 years ago—a 40,000-year discrepancy.

Wells's take on the origins of modern humans and how they came to populate the rest of the planet is bound to be controversial.

His work adds to an already crowded field of opposing hypotheses proposed by those who seek answers in "stones and bones"—archaeologists and paleoanthropologists—and those who seek them in our blood—population geneticists and molecular biologists.

More:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1212_021213_journeyofman.html

Journey of Man premieres on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television station in the United States on Tuesday, January 21, 2003, at 9:00 p.m. Check the PBS Web site for your local schedule.
http://www.pbs.org/