I am amazed! Geologists Say 'Wall Of Africa' Allowed Humanity To Emerge!

DaltheJigsaw

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071219082604.htm

zenff

Why does it amaze you?

DaltheJigsaw

Most of humans supposedly come from one particular lady in Africa!

zenff

I didn't read the "one particular lady" part.

"Nature built this wall, and then humans could evolve, walk tall and think big," says Royhan Gani.

person

Never heard about this idea before, it is interesting, makes sense. Thanks for posting it.

Also I didn't read anything about one particular lady. Or is that a bit of a joke that doesn't read in internet.

vinlyn

^ Actually, that is not a new concept; been around for decades. Unfortunately, early on in the concept, some tried to make it as a support to the Adam And Eve fable. Everything had to start someplace, though. Apparently there are certain aspects of DNA that appear that they could be traced to a single individual.

Dakini

Mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) traces the female line, so the farther back you go in history, the narrower the list of ancestresses. This can give the impression of the line converging on one individual if you go back far enough, but reality doesn't work that way.

person

There have also been a few 'bottlenecks' in human evolution where the population barely survived. Like 70,000 years ago after the Toba supervolcano erupted, the human population is estimated to have dropped to something like 1,000 to 10,000 people.

vinlyn

Mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) traces the female line, so the farther back you go in history, the narrower the list of ancestresses. This can give the impression of the line converging on one individual if you go back far enough, but reality doesn't work that way.

Well, perhaps. In terms of human evolution, for it not to work that way you would have to assume that multiple individuals coincidentally evolved in the same way, probably at about the same time.

Maybe. It really does get down to an almost Adam & Eve concept...scientifically without the God factor...if we're sticking to science.

Dakini

Well, perhaps. In terms of human evolution, for it not to work that way you would have to assume that multiple individuals coincidentally evolved in the same way, probably at about the same time.

Exactly. The genus Homo evolved as a group, not as one or two freak individuals.

vinlyn

Well, perhaps. In terms of human evolution, for it not to work that way you would have to assume that multiple individuals coincidentally evolved in the same way, probably at about the same time.

Exactly. The genus Homo evolved as a group, not as one or two freak individuals.

Well, the concept of evolution is based on the premise that an individual in a group has some minor genetic modification that makes it better able to survive and reach reproductive age, thus passing that genetic modification on. Not sure I see that genetic modification happening in large groups. I'll remain open-minded about it.

genkaku

Mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) traces the female line, so the farther back you go in history, the narrower the list of ancestresses. This can give the impression of the line converging on one individual if you go back far enough, but reality doesn't work that way.

@Dakini ... you mean that virgin birth is just a myth? Say it ain't so, Joe!