I know what you’re thinking – but no, it wasn’t obtained via search warrant *;
As we branched off on the evolutionary tree, our ancestors look to have made a messy break from those of chimpanzees. By comparing samples of chimp, gorilla and human DNA, scientists from MIT and Harvard say they see evidence of interspecies sex.
[…]
The geneticists rely on a molecular clock — a technique that estimates when two organisms shared a common ancestor by counting the number of genetic differences.
With more of the human and chimp genetic codes available, Reich examined several thousand stretches side by side.
To their surprise, they found some parts of the genetic code look like they diverged more recently than others — falling into a range of several million years. Alone it wasn’t enough to conclude intermixing occurred.
Their more shocking conclusion came from the X chromosome. There, our DNA seems to have diverged from chimps more than a million years later than DNA on other chromosomes.
In other creatures, sharing a similar X with another species can be a sign — a scarlet letter — pointing to interbreeding. This has to do with a connection between the X chromosome and infertility in hybrid offspring, said co-author Nick Patterson of the Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass.
Most animals from different species can’t reproduce, he said. Some that are closely related can produce infertile offspring — as when donkeys and horses create mules. But in other cases some offspring might be fertile and not others, Patterson said. For reasons we don’t completely understand, he said, hybrid infertility in mammals seems to come from incompatible genes on the X chromosome.
Only hybrids with certain combinations of genes on the X would have the fertility necessary to pass them down, and that would dampen diversity in the X chromosome until the mixing stopped.
Patterson said these hybrid ape-creatures may have mated with each other or with members of either the human ancestral line or that of the chimps. They can’t say who ended up getting the hybrid genes.
The separation of one species from another is more than a matter of reproductive compatibility, said Montgomery Slatkin, a biologist from the University of California.
He said speciation starts with geographic separation between two groups of the same species. They acquire different traits as they adapt to different environments and at the same time also grow apart through random genetic changes..
…are we talking about the Liberals here?
It does help to explain the origins of trolls like BCL and others. Thanks Kate for shedding some light on this for us.
Daniel
I’m not sure of your point, Kate. Our particular hominid species (homo sapiens sapiens) evolved about 200,000 years ago. So, what was going on in the millions of years before that, is not really that relevant.
Since evolution is irreversible, I don’t see any chance of a return to the ‘era of compatibility’.
Although, as others have pointed out, such filiations might explain some of the political aberrations of die-hard socialists.
“So human ancestors mixing with chimp ones is plausible, he said. More questionable, he said, are the dates.”
No kidding. Who picks up the tab? What will her parents think? If I let her eat my lice on the first date will she still respect me the next day? Dating minefield.
On the other hand – hairy back? No problem!
[deleted. Duke, think before you comment – ed]
I would think that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is himself evidence of a half-human, half-simian savage monster.
Speaking of which, I have a brand-new post just up:
IRAN STARTING HOLOCAUST?
http://thecanadiansentinel.blogspot.com/2006/05/iran-starting-holocaust.html
Iran is planning to force non-Muslims to wear colored badges on their clothing to identify them as the minorities they are.
Just like Hitler forced the Jews to wear a colored star on their clothing prior to and during the Holocaust.
Wow. I hope Duke’s comment doesn’t survive too long.
Down, dooby, do, down down
Come-a Come-a
Down, dooby, do down, down
Come-a Come-a
Down, dooby, do, down, down
Breaking up is hard to do
Don’t take your love
Away from me
Don’t you leave my heart
In misery
Cause if you go
Then I’ll be blue
Cause breakin’ up is hard to do
they say that breaking up is hard to do
now i know, i know that i’ts true
The right is not racist, Duke.
Are you a totalitarian, by any chance?
ET – there is no “point”. Sometimes I just find stuff interesting.
If some guy(or gal)is horny enough to mount a sheep,I guess they could be seduced by a easy chimp…
Seriously now,for this to be accurate it would suggest that beyond”coupling”there would be successful pregnancies and births for these results.That is not even possible today with our current genetic differences is it?
“Sometimes I just find stuff interesting…”
Yeah – and this is really cool, although I think Sean E has a good point
Does this mean that I can start dating Dr. Zira?
Havent the mullahs been calling us apes for sometime now?. they will be saying the Koran said it already.
Would have loved to read Duke’s comment….must have been REALLY bad for it to be removed. Naughty Duke!!!!Tsk, tsk!
I wonder how long it will be before some Bible-thumper is going to go ona rant here about how evolution is a fraud, yadda, yadda….
That would explain the Lancelot Link Secret Chimp tv show from the late 1960’s:
http://www.70slivekidvid.com/lancelot.htm
http://www.tvparty.com/reclance.html
Well, now we know where the NDP came from. 🙂
On a tangential but serious note, wouldn’t it be a much better world if people looked more at what everyone has in common than in our differences?
Nowhere do you find the disclaimer any real scientist would include:
“this is only a theory that has not been proven”
So it begs the questions, why is the article written as though this is a report on the truth?
That’s beacuse we all know evolution is truth and has been proven aover and over again. Right?
/deeply religious Leftist
Explains some kids in the diner last night.
Some people claim that the man-woman twosome is “interfertile”. Heh.
See — Who is “interfertile,” anyway?
http://opine-editorials.blogspot.com/2005/10/who-is-interfertile-anyway.html
And — Flubdubs and substitutions
http://opine-editorials.blogspot.com/2005/10/flubdubs-and-substitutions.html
I am no scientist but I think evolution is just a theory because there is no proven evolution between two different species, i.e. there is no evidence of any missing link between any two species.
IIRC (it has been more than awhile), Darwin got fruit flies to evolve some different characteristics but that was it. The theory takes that achievement and compounds it but there is still no proof.
The “molecular clock” method sounds much like Climatology’s global warming “hockey stick”. It’s only a guess based on blind faith methodology…this is another example of junk science that MSM can’t wait to sell the public nowadays.
Next thing we’ll know is how to use the molecular clock technique to determine “which” human ethnicities are closest to monkeys. Everyone would know their place in the evolution chain. It’ll make the authors of Nazi Germany’s final solution proud.
How very interesting, yet disturbing.
Does that mean we are going to see more reruns of “Planet of the Apes”?
Leaving aside the comments about some of the girls I dated so llllong ago, it is ideed interesting and opens up a whole other view of our great great great great… grandparents. Why did one branch of the family tree evolve but the other didn’t? Facinating stuff.
The scientists began with an unwavering belief that the chimp-human split is a proven, unalterable fact. They came up with that strange scenario in order to make the evidence fit their apriori belief. Not very good science.
…speakign of hybrids…anyone know someone who knows someone’s brother who knows someone’s friend who knows someone who owns a Ford Hybrid SUV? Mariner or something?
That or the Toyota (Highlander?) Hybrid, which I understand lends its engine to the Ford version.
Thinking on getting one, not just to save on gas, but don’t feel as guilty smogging the neighbourhood.
Problem with those electric cars they can only go 200KM. Not enough to drive to Red Deer and back from Calgary.
Tomax, I really hope this human hybrid stuff is only “chimp change” with the only net effect being the used as the foundation to give birth to another bad Jim Carrey Pet Detective flick. But then that’s what I thought about Kyoto. No rational nation could possibly enact policy that would severely damage its’ economy without rock solid evidence…but yet Chretien & co. couldn’t wait to obligate Western Canada’s economy to a treaty based on shaky junk science.
What leftoid non-family based reproductive policy could be hatched from using the “molecular clock technique”? Would races be graded against each other? Would there be a “pass/fail”?
Ah, but you’re probably right…it’ll never get beyond being a harmless tidbit of humor. Anyways, I’ll wait on my hybrid car purchase until Chrysler comes out with the Newport hybrid. I think a 400 cu inch Detroit firebreather would turn the battery generator quite nicely…and how can anyone compete against the Newport’s Bismark styling?
New super solar panels and hi-tourq elecric motors. Makes one wonder why we are not seeing electric car choices on every lot.
The electric motor now gives you the take-off of a wankle engine, Not gearchanges just steady pull to 140kmh.
The new lightweight auto batteries that look normal until you go to lift one. Featherweight!
You know all about this right? You read the MSM. eh?
Well, I heard Shell and Exxon.. buzz buzz..
TG
This happens far more often than is reported.Just last weekend I visited the local pub,drank way too many ales,met a rather hirstute lady and yada,yada, yada.I thought she was Italian.The next morning I wake up and she’s gone and so are all my bananas.Now I know why.
Tony G:
“Well, I heard Shell and Exxon.. buzz buzz..”
I wonder if it’s the same conversation I might have overheard with the Ontario Teacher’s Union Pension fund coordinator.
Certainly along those same scheming lines. TG
This has got to be the worst of urban legends.