XPost: alt.alien.research, alt.alien.visitors, alt.atheism
XPost: alt.paranormal.crop-circles
From: twonky@mindspring.com
"HVAC" wrote in message
news:1159699813.727923.182750@c28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
Time.com) -- You don't have to be a biologist or an anthropologist to
see how closely the great apes -- gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and
orangutans -- resemble us.
Even a child can see that their bodies are pretty much the same as
ours, apart from some exaggerated proportions and extra body hair. Apes
have dexterous hands much like ours but unlike those of any other
creature. And, most striking of all, their faces are uncannily
expressive, showing a range of emotions that are eerily familiar.
It isn't just a superficial resemblance. Chimps, especially, not only
look like us, they also share with us some human-like behaviors. They
make and use tools and teach those skills to their offspring.
They prey on other animals and occasionally murder each other. They
have complex social hierarchies and some aspects of what
anthropologists consider culture. They can't form words, but they can
learn to communicate via sign language and symbols and to perform
complex cognitive tasks.
Scientists figured out decades ago that chimps are our nearest
evolutionary cousins, roughly 98 percent to 99 percent identical to
humans at the genetic level. When it comes to DNA, a human is closer to
a chimp than a mouse is to a rat.
Yet tiny differences, sprinkled throughout the genome, have made all
the difference.
Agriculture, language, art, music, technology and philosophy -- all the
achievements that make us profoundly different from chimpanzees -- are
somehow encoded within minute fractions of our genetic code.
Nobody yet knows precisely where they are or how they work, but
somewhere in the nuclei of our cells are handfuls of amino acids,
arranged in a specific order, that endow us with the brainpower to
outthink and outdo our closest relatives on the tree of life. They give
us the ability to speak and write and read, to compose symphonies,
paint masterpieces and delve into the molecular biology that makes us
what we are.
Until recently, there was no way to unravel these crucial differences.
Exactly what gives us advantages like complex brains and the ability to
walk upright -- and certain disadvantages, including susceptibility to
some types of malaria, AIDS and Alzheimer's, that don't seem to afflict
chimps -- remained a mystery.
But that's rapidly changing. Just a year ago, geneticists announced
that they had sequenced a rough draft of the chimpanzee genome,
allowing the first side-by-side comparisons of human and chimpanzee
DNA.
Already, that research has led to important discoveries about the
development of the human brain over the past few million years. It's
also led to more controversial theories about our ancestors' mating
behavior, most notably the possibility that chimps and humans interbred
from time to time before finally going their separate evolutionary
ways.
And sometime in the next few weeks, a team led by molecular geneticist
Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary
Anthropology, in Leipzig, Germany, will announce an even more stunning
achievement: the sequencing of a significant fraction of the genome of
Neanderthals -- the human-like species we picture when we hear the word
"caveman" -- who are far closer to us genetically than chimps are.
And while Neanderthals went extinct tens of thousands of years ago,
Pääbo is convinced he's on the way to reconstructing the entire
genome of that long-lost relative, using DNA extracted, against all
odds, from a 38,000-year-old bone.
None of this is easy to pull off. Like any complex organic molecule,
DNA degrades over time, and bones that lie in the ground for thousands
of years become badly contaminated with DNA from bacteria and fungi.
Anyone who handles the fossils can also leave human DNA behind.
But laid side by side, these three sets of genetic blueprints -- plus
the genomes of gorillas and other apes, which are already well on the
way to being completely sequenced -- will not only begin to explain
precisely what makes us human but could lead to a better understanding
of human diseases, including malaria, AIDS and viral hepatitis, and how
to treat them.
For most of us, though, it's the grand question about what it was that
made us human that make comparative genome studies so compelling. As
scientists keep reminding us, evolution is a random process in which
haphazard genetic changes interact with random environmental conditions
to produce an organism somehow fitter than its fellows.
After 3.5 billion years of such randomness, a creature emerged that
could ponder its own origins -- and revel in a Mozart adagio. Within a
few short years, we may finally understand precisely when and how that
happened.
<><><><><><><><><>
Cain...our missing link.....
To answer the question, Monkey or Ape...
Ape...
99%, Chimp genes, I heard it a while ago. On the History Channel....
Neanderthals -- the human-like species we picture when we hear the word
"caveman" -- who are far closer to us genetically than chimps are.
(From the article)
Great post Mr. HVAC.....
Add the gene of Cain, and we can revel in a Mozart adagio.
Well....I revel in ABBA....
HaShem....before time, he dwells beyond Creation...
Allah...500 years AD, he dwells in the Kingdom, and 'walks' the Earth.
The beast, rears it's ugly head......
Neanderthal & Cro-Magnon. Iraelis and HaShem.
Muslims and, an Angel of HaShem.
It's a war in the Kingdom, playing out on the Earth. Between the
combination of all color, and the absence of all color.....
Armageddon....
One either sees, or one is blinded........
Genetics. The Almighty is all about genetics.
He makes living, sentient, life.....
Please don't hate me for this post, Harlow........
Truce?
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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