[BITList] DNA related,

[Malcolm]

John,

 

A view that I have thrown into the conservation many times ( You know, the
chat that goes on when everyone has had a lot drink after a good dinner with
friends) is that " the human race is still evolving. Most folk laughed and
said that we have now evolved, this is the end of the line, where else could
we go.

 

Personally I think that our brains will carry on evolving. I would put my
money on telepathy. I must admit though that when I read of some of the
antics that some youngsters do now. I sometimes think that we have maybe
gone a step backwards. 

 

Malcolm. 

 

  _____  

From: bitlist-bounces at lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com
[mailto:bitlist-bounces at lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com] On Behalf Of John
Feltham
Sent: 10 August 2013 15:26
To: Undisclosed recipients:
Subject: [BITList] DNA related,

 

 

 

 

"The fact that everyone has two parents means that the number of ancestors
for each individual doubles every generation," Ralph said. "

 

By using basic mathematics, we can calculate that ten generations ago each
individual had a thousand ancestors, and 20 generations ago they had a
million and so on.

 

"But when we get to 40 generations ago, in the time of Charlemagne, we
arrive at a trillion ancestors and that is a problem because we now have
more ancestors than there were people. Thus one can deduce that a lot of
those ancestors must be the same person."

 

To visualize this concept, Ralph suggests drawing an imaginary family tree.
He does this by using DNA data from the whole genome sequencing data on
2,257 people living in more than 40 European populations.

 

"Our research confirmed what Chang suspected-that everybody who was alive in
Europe a thousand years ago and who had children, is an ancestor of everyone
alive today who has some European ancestry," Ralph said.

 

You can read this interesting article at
http://phys.org/news/2013-08-dna-earth.html

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