Posts Tagged ‘cosmic log’

We’re Still Here


02 Jan

To go along with Thursday’s post about the Denisovans (I didn’t give their name), we have proof that ancient modern humans bred with both the Neanderthals and the Denisovans. In fact, I think you could argue that modern humans might not exist if it hadn’t been for the interbreeding.

DNA tests using information from bone marrow registries show that more than half of our immune system related DNA comes from Neanderthals and Denisovans. Without that, some disease may have wiped us off the planet.

While we don’t know what happened to them, I think we can say, they saved us.

Not Human or Neanderthal


30 Dec

How did I miss this story back in March? I was a History major and C was an Anthropology major so we actually talk about things like the extinction of the Neanderthals on a not infrequent basis. So how did I miss the report that there is genetic evidence of yet another pre-human ancestor? One that was neither modern human nor Neanderthal? Better yet, the evidence suggests this person lived in Siberia’sAltai Mountains at the same time as modern humans were moving there. Was there interbreeding? What happened to them? Was their fate tied to that of the Neanderthals?

The Year in Science Stories


29 Dec

I love end of year lists. They let me sort through things and find what I’ve missed. It’s not my full time job to find interesting movies or books, or scientific breakthroughs, even though I love all of those things. Reading the year end lists from those whose full time jobs it is, means that I get to catch up.

To that end, over the next week or so, you’ll probably be seeing a number of posts by me from the Cosmic Log’s year end round ups of the biggest stories in outer space, archeology, and science stories in general.

100 Words On

topics explored in exactly 100 words