Genetics

[weirpig]

Thread for the interesting subject of genetics,  What makes us who we are  and indeed how did we become to look like this and to what did we evolve from?  Discuss  below

 

[weirpig]

I found this interesting article on eye colour  and the distribution around the world   below is the percentage worldwide  with people with different eye colours

 

Brown  86%

Blue 8%

Green 2%

Silver and amber 2%  each

 

They estimate that in the next 100 years  brown eyes will account for 95% of the worlds population

[Methuselah]

I'll start with the obvious: we, as a species, evolved on the African Savanna several million years ago. How we, subsequently, got all around the world is, I think open to some debate?

We, as white Caucasians, clearly (?) have genetic connections with the Caucasus....That said, what was the precise route: Africa -->Caucasus --> Asia --> Europe; or Africa --->Asia --->Caucasus ---> Europe?

Confused - Moi?

[weirpig]

 

1 minute ago, Ed Stone said:

I'll start with the obvious: we, as a species, evolved on the African Savanna several million years ago. How we, subsequently, got all around the world is, I think open to some debate?

We, as white Caucasians, clearly (?) have genetic connections with the Caucasus....That said, what was the precise route: Africa -->Caucasus --> Asia --> Europe; or Africa --->Asia --->Caucasus ---> Europe?

Confused - Moi?

There are many a theroy  regarding the evolution of us as a species.  specifically the caucasians,  One such theroy is that we are the result of a defective gene  present in albinos  and this mutated as time went by.  and living in northern europe  the lack of warmth etc helped to maintain this.  either way a very interesting subject  

[Methuselah]

3 minutes ago, weirpig said:

 

There are many a theroy  regarding the evolution of us as a species.  specifically the caucasians,  One such theroy is that we are the result of a defective gene  present in albinos  and this mutated as time went by.  and living in northern europe  the lack of warmth etc helped to maintain this.  either way a very interesting subject  

Well we do have the ability of converting sunlight into vitamin D, which most black folks do not; but then, they don't contract malignant melanomas like we do...Also, and for the same reason, black folks need eat fruit like the white folks need sunlight...I think that's about right (?); any metabolic function, however advantageous, comes at a cost to the individual??

But that said (I had Nigerian foster sisters, so I know this) black folks also get sunburn!

[ciel]

21 minutes ago, weirpig said:

either way a very interesting subject  

Yes it is, weirpig.  It would be great to have the capacity to turn back the pages of our evolution.

I have not had any DNA tests, but my blood group is B+, rare in the UK, about 8% of the population,  but thought to have originated in central Asia.

[cheeky_monkey]

46 minutes ago, weirpig said:

 

There are many a theroy  regarding the evolution of us as a species.  specifically the caucasians,  One such theroy is that we are the result of a defective gene  present in albinos  and this mutated as time went by.  and living in northern europe  the lack of warmth etc helped to maintain this.  either way a very interesting subject  

read somewhere that new research shows white skin blue eyes and different hair colour only developed at the end of the last age as recently as 8000 years ago and only in Europe more specifically around the Baltic sea areas..so maybe the term shouldn't be Caucasians at all?

[ciel]

cont. from the EU ref thread:-

http://aplus.com/a/dna-journey-momondo-shocking-reveal

Edited July 20, 2016 by ciel

[Methuselah]

41 minutes ago, ciel said:

Yes it is, weirpig.  It would be great to have the capacity to turn back the pages of our evolution.

I have not had any DNA tests, but my blood group is B+, rare in the UK, about 8% of the population,  but thought to have originated in central Asia.

Is B+ really that rare, ciel...I have it too, and have always thought it was bog-standard. Now I know why they always wanted me to donate my blood...Which I always did until the paroxetine got prescribed. You learn something every day!

[knocker]

Some new research on sympatric speciation has thrown up some interesting stuff.

Quote

The large lakes of East Africa have been called “Darwin’s dream ponds”—bodies of water filled with astonishing numbers of fish species that fascinate evolutionary scientists. But how do fish that live together in the same place spin off into new species? Researchers think they’ve found the answer in a nearby lake they characterize as more of a puddle.

In a paper published today in Science, biologists describe a small crater lake in Tanzania where they say the fish are in the process of sympatric speciation, or the process by which new species evolve from a single ancestor while living in the same geographic area.

 

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/darwins-puddle-could-show-how-species-emerge-close-quarters-180957589/?no-ist

[weirpig]

Interesting that a new discovery has shown that perhaps Africa wasn't the cradle of humanity after all. The missing link may have come from Southern Europe 

The birthplace of modern man may have been the eastern Mediterranean, rather than Africa, according to scientists studying newly discovered ancient fossils of a tooth and lower jawbone.

The remnants, found in Bulgaria and Greece, belonged to an ape-like creature, Graecopithecus freybergi - believed to be the oldest known pre-human, dating back as far as 7.2 million years.