Genome Brings Ancient Girl to Life

[HiPointDem]

In a stunning technical feat, an international team of scientists has sequenced the genome of an archaic Siberian girl 31 times over, using a new method that amplifies single strands of DNA. The sequencing is so complete that researchers have as sharp a picture of this ancient genome as they would of a living person’s, revealing, for example that the girl had brown eyes, hair, and skin...

That precision allows the team to compare the nuclear genome of this girl, who lived in Siberia’s Denisova Cave more than 50,000 years ago, directly to the genomes of living people, producing a “near-complete” catalog of the small number of genetic changes that make us different from the Denisovans, who were close relatives of Neandertals...

Meyer and his colleagues were able to detect for the first time that Denisovans, like modern humans, had 23 pairs of chromosomes, rather than 24 pairs, as in chimpanzees. By aligning the Denisovan genome with that of the reference human genome and counting mutations, the team calculated that the Denisovan and modern human populations finally split between 170,000 and 700,000 years ago...

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/08/denisovan-genome/

[Jack Sprat]

1. That's impossible, HiPoint

Don't you know the earth is only 8000 years old, give or take a few years?

[left on green only]

3. Just ask rit momney. Coincidently that is also the last time he ........

changed his magic underwear, me thinks.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Absolutely fascinating!

I think genetics is one of the most interesting fields these days.

Thanks for posting this.

[Warren DeMontague]

4. God, I had to read that 3 times before I realized it didn't say

"Gnome brings ancient girl to life"

[HiPointDem]

5. magic!

[Warren DeMontague]

7. Anyway

very cool article.

[lumberjack_jeff]

48. It was G. Gnome. n/t

[Spitfire of ATJ]

6. It was obviously post-migratory when different species of human existed side by side...

...there's evidence they bred with each other and passed on traits to their decedents.

Ever go to this site?

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

My fav:

[img][/img]

[Petrushka]

8. Aw-w, ni-i-ice! "Norton blocked an attack . . . " when I clicked on that link!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

9. Norton is notoriously overzealous in it's paranoia...

...after all, it's tying to protect Windoze.

[Petrushka]

10. Seriously, I appreciate such overzealousness..

Especially after losing four years worth of work and research to a virus way-back-when.



P.S.
I followed that Walmart People website when it was still in its infancy. After a while, it ceased to be funny.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. "After a while, it ceased to be funny."

You can only look at so many butt cracks...

[HiPointDem]

12. I never thought making fun of poor people for their weight & clothes was funny in the first place.

Good comedy makes fun of the powerful and arrogant.

Humor that targets the powerless and weak isn't funny, anymore than a bully who picks on people smaller than him is funny.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

13. True, but a lot of these people are going to vote Republican...

...the same way people used to volunteer to be a sacrifice to a volcano.

[HiPointDem]

14. there's no connection between the two; and poor people lean democrat, not republican.

it's really counterproductive of democrats to make fun of low-income people, in fact.

but they do it all the time, and make assumptions like you just did.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

15. Uh huh,...sure...

Obviously you are unaware of the mindset of some of these people.

They HAVE to vote Republican to stop the "Democrats".

Classic "low information voters".

[Petrushka]

18. SOME poor people lean Democrat, but many more might lean Republican . . .

. . . otherwise Obama would have carried my home-state, West Virginia---and ex-Congressman Mollohan would have carried the state's first district!

Also: In fact: Making fun of people isn't the same thing as finding some people's antics funny, regardless of their income status. I mean: If someone chooses to run around anywhere in public with all of his or her goodies hanging out in a display that silently shouts "Up yours!" at those who take offense, I might not laugh at them but you can be sure I'll shake my head in wonderment and try not to smile. I would never, however, stop to ask them their party affiliation or the level of their income.

[HiPointDem]

25. People making under $30K were the ONLY income group to go Democrat in the last election (2010).

With the 2010 midterms come and gone, one question we at OOTS asked is how low-income Americans voted.

According to CNN’s national exit polling, the lowest income bracket, those making under $30,000 a year, voted 56 percent Democrat compared to 41 percent Republican.

This gap closes in the next income bracket, between $30,000 and $50,000, in which voters prefer Democrats over Republicans by a margin of 51 percent to 46 percent.

It’s worth noting that in this election only those earning less than $50,000 voted in the majority for Democrats. Above the $50,000 income line, voters swung Republican.

http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/OutOfTheSpotlight.aspx?id=f733d09b-6808-4115-9b88-8c89262c7b3d


People who make fun of low-income people for their personal appearance do so because of their own status anxieties.

People who go on about how low-income people "vote against their own interest" are ill-informed, as low-income people are the group *most* likely to vote for democrats.

the problem is not that low-income folks are liable to vote republican, but that they are less likely to vote, period. mostly because they've figured that voting won't change their personal situation. and they're pretty much correct in that these days.

[Mmm_Bacon]

16. Good comedy makes fun of everyone...

[HiPointDem]

23. there's nothing funny about making fun of the powerless. that's why conservative humor sucks.

like dennis miller.

you're mistaken, my friend.

[Mmm_Bacon]

26. Just the subjects you find comfortable with then....

Sounds boring

[HiPointDem]

27. a world where people don't pick on the weak doesn't sound boring to me.

[chknltl]

55. +1 eom

[kestrel91316]

30. I guess the woman in the pic is powerless to dress just slightly

less skankily??

[HiPointDem]

36. 'skanky' is your judgment of her outfit.

[kestrel91316]

42. No. Many women could wear that and not look bad. She's not one of them.

[HiPointDem]

43. skanky = slutty. a character judgment based on her outfit. your judgment.

[Scootaloo]

17. Willy the Wal-Mart Pimp still gets a chuckle

I mean come on, that's gold right there.

[HiPointDem]

24. i don't see anything funny about it. a man wearing an unusual outfit. why is that funny?

[Scootaloo]

33. Context

You're plodding through Wal-Mart. You round an aisle, and standing there is a man in pink pinstripes, wearing a feathered hat and gold silk scarves. You look at him. he looks at you - through star-shaped sunglasses.

"Sup?" he asks, as if this were just another day, anywhere else. Because, for him, it is.

Your day is probably a little different now. perhaps not what you were expecting.

[HiPointDem]

35. the context is people looking at pictures of funny-looking people on a website dedicated to

making fun of funny-looking people who shop at walmart.

[Posteritatis]

32. I actually gotta respect that

Especially speaking as someone who's rather more selfconscious than I want to be.

That's someone who's comfortable in his own skin.

[Kurovski]

50. Willy got nothin' on Mitt the Shit. Mitt is the ultimate Wal Mart pimp.

[LongTomH]

44. I agree. I despise Walmart; but, making fun of the poor people who shop there is a low blow!

Many of those people don't have any choice. Either they can't afford to shop anywhere else, or Wally World has driven all the local shops in their area out of business.

[arely staircase]

46. well, the white woman with the swastika shirt and the black boyfriend is funny

sorry, she just is.

[Trillo]

19. Not only do we have to violate the privacy of folks alive today,

we also refuse to let the dead rest in peace, and we have to violate their privacy, as well. Thank goodness they're dead, it would seem rather difficult for them to either be aware of or care about the gravesite violation. Us, on the other hand ... Why forcibly teach us as kids we have a 4th Amendment, if it's clear to most of us as adults, we do not.

[Posteritatis]

31. What in God's name does German paleoanthropology have to do with the Fourth Amendment?

Gah, that's the most absurd kneejerk I've seen around here in... well, hours.

[Trillo]

34. DNA is behind the "locked door" of a cell wall.

Sure, it may be dissolved, but with the right chemicals, so may your front door. 4th Amendment protects personal papers and effects against search and seizure. DNA are basically instructions, the blueprint if you will, of the organism. It doesn't get any more personal than that.

Your insults are noted. I shall refrain from insulting you. Please pass that kindness on to the next person you disagree with.

[Posteritatis]

37. *facepalm* (nt)

[Trillo]

39. You must not be a democrat,

for you sure can't stop the insults, even when asked politely. If your intent is to get people to switch to third party, or to republicans (barf) yours is a superior strategery.

[lumberjack_jeff]

49. I doubt that a 50,000 year-old non-human Siberian hominid is covered by the 4th amendment.

Genes or otherwise.

[csziggy]

53. The Fourth Amendment has NOTHING to do with an ancient Siberian girl

Or the German paleoanthropolists who sampled her DNA.

I'm not sure why you would think any portion of the American Constitution would be binding to people in other countries.

As for "gravesite violation" - there was no gravesite. All that remains of this girl are one tiny finger bone and two teeth. It is amazing that they were found at all and remarkable that they were even recognized as human.

Frankly, if this person were one of my distant relatives, I would not have any objection to scientists digging her up and investigating her remains in order to gain more information about human origins. The knowledge gained could benefit future generations.

[HopeHoops]

20. How long before someone tries to clone her?

[Petrushka]

21. That was my first thought when I read that headline! (eom)

[HopeHoops]

22. They're trying to use an elephant to bring back the mammoth (as a zoo object).

How do you think a girl brought back from the same technique would feel in a world like ours? Obviously she wouldn't have any memory of her previous life, but she'd be treated as a freak to be studied. I have no problem with the study of DNA differences, but DO NOT FUCK WITH THEM!

[Kalidurga]

29. Probably not to long...

we already have cloned sheep.

[HopeHoops]

47. Ah, yes, I remember Dolly.

[WhoIsNumberNone]

40. Soon

They're going to need more Neanderthals to vote Republican as the old ones are all dying off.

[davepdx]

41. I interpreted it that the sample was effectively incomplete so a clone wouldn't be possible.

From the article:

"The team was able to cover 99.9 percent of the mappable nucleotide positions in the genome at least once, and more than 92 percent of the sites at least 20 times, which is considered a benchmark for identifying sites reliably."

Edited to add: I could be wrong.

[LongTomH]

45. There's a Syfy channel movie in this!!!!

They could have the cloned girl fall in love with one of the scientists cloning her. It would be a hopeless, poignant story. Unfortunately, Syfy would just turn it into a 'kill the monster' horror feature.

[flamingdem]

28. Oh great now we have to keep up with the Denisovans n/t

[Kurovski]

52. DUzy!

...is that still a thing aroound here?

[flamingdem]

54. Thanks for the props!

[WhoIsNumberNone]

38. Maybe they could clone her

but only if they feel the need to save Republicans from extinction...

[JustAnotherGen]

51. That's fascinating!