Finally Nick Wade is wading in on the Neandertal genomics story. Wade is a top level reporter, so when he covers a story I am pretty sure he is getting "inside" information that allows him to frame his piece appropriately. So when he says, "Researchers also hope to resolve such questions as whether the Neanderthals spoke, their hair and skin color...." Well, that is definite confirmation of the obvious fact that FOXP2 and MC1R are in the sights. One thing, Wade refers to "founding population." Remember to be careful of terms like this...long term effective population can be tricky, and it often gets confounded by metapopulation dynamics.
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Sometimes science is just too cool! A Melanocortin 1 Receptor Allele Suggests Varying Pigmentation Among Neanderthals:
The melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) regulates pigmentation in humans and other vertebrates. Variants of MC1R with reduced function are associated with pale skin color and red hair…
Update: Hawks responds.
John Hawks has not commented on this feature in Wired titled Code of the Caveman. But I'm sure he will, and when he does, I will point you to it because what he says on this topic is worth listening to. But, until then, here are a few points.
1) This extraction of ancient…
You can now read the Krause et al (2007) paper from Current Biology regarding the FOXP2 variant found in Neanderthals in an open-access on-line form at Current Biology Online.
Here is the summary of the article:
Although many animals communicate vocally, no extant creature rivals modern humans in…
You can now read the Krause et al (2007) paper from Current Biology regarding the FOXP2 variant found in Neanderthals in an open-access on-line form at Current Biology Online.
Here is the summary of the article:
Although many animals communicate vocally, no extant creature rivals modern humans in…