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Possible New Species of Human Discovered

Nepenthe

Tu Stultus Es
It's a really cool find whether it turns out to be a separate species or not. As usual Zimmer has an awesome write up on the Nature paper and anthropologist John Hawks has an interesting perspective as well. Svante Paabo is a molecular paleontological rockstar; he's been at the forefront of designing techniques to isolate ancient DNA. His recent project to sequence the complete neanderthal genome is the stuff of legend and has resulted in a "rough draft" already. In the Nature article Paabo does shy away from actually calling the "X-Woman's" pinky itself evidence of a new species, but he hasn't been so shy in saying so in public announcements. It's a pretty bold claim to introduce a new species here based on the mt sequence alone, but I can only guess Paabo and his colleagues know more than has been released so far and, as usual, time will tell, particularly after Paabo and crew finish the sequencing the nuclear DNA. If that's as unusual as the mt evidence, well, then this will prove even more interesting.
 

Caladan

Agnostic Pantheist
Read about it in Science Daily, I'll be waiting for more in depth releases. mt sequence can give us valuable data when compared to that of other species, and that is what they did with the X-Woman, comparing the mt sequence to that of modern humans and neanderthals, but like Nepenthe said, this find will be tackled from many angles by perhistorians, and we'll wise up.
 

Terrywoodenpic

Oldest Heretic
But... Man was created unique? ;)

Of course he was...

This is Just a bit more of the stuff Satan scattered around to confuse us.

It must be so because the Bible never lies....:facepalm:

Even if a live one was found running around, it would be the spawn of the devil not human.
 
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Nepenthe

Tu Stultus Es
Read about it in Science Daily, I'll be waiting for more in depth releases. mt sequence can give us valuable data when compared to that of other species, and that is what they did with the X-Woman, comparing the mt sequence to that of modern humans and neanderthals, but like Nepenthe said, this find will be tackled from many angles by perhistorians, and we'll wise up.
It is definitely exciting. I certainly don't want to derail Sunstone's thread but there's been some new papers published on LB1 (the "Hobbit" fossil) and it brought to mind some (off the cuff and tentative) comparisons here. The controversy over H. floresiensis (LB1) and the claims that it was a dwarf Homo erectus or even a modern human is comparable here imo. LB1's skull is most similar in configuration to early examples of Homo, but a jaw reminiscent of australopithecines. In short, the Hobbit fossil looks more and more to be a unique species. Too bad there's no Hobbit DNA available like there is for Lady X. :) The comparison to Lady X obviously only goes so far since all we have so far is the pinky. But I think the comparison is apt in that we have claims about a new species of hominid and the evidence continuing to trickle in supporting the claim.

Lady X may be a new species (fingers crossed for that one), an atavistic mt lineage that was retained in eastern Neanderthal populations but lost within other neanderthals, or it's H. erectus. I really, really want it to be a new species that walked the earth in the early Pleistocene alongside the Hobbit and modern humans. How cool would that be. :D

See more here: New findings about the Hobbit - The Panda's Thumb and Yet Another Update to the X-Woman’s Fingerbone | The Loom | Discover Magazine
 

Baydwin

Well-Known Member
Of course he was...

This is Just a bit more of the stuff Satan scattered around to confuse us.

It must be so because the Bible never lies....:facepalm:

Even if a live one was found running around, it would be the spawn of the devil not human.
Your wisdom is mighty.
 

joea

Oshoyoi
Of course he was...

This is Just a bit more of the stuff Satan scattered around to confuse us.

It must be so because the Bible never lies....:facepalm:

Even if a live one was found running around, it would be the spawn of the devil not human.

Man will never go forward..if you keep on with your kind of thinking..
 

Draka

Wonder Woman
There is only one species of human being.

Perhaps at this exact moment in time. Doesn't mean there haven't been different species of human before us and it doesn't mean it isn't possible for there to be different after us.
 
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