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Despite Homo Sapiens and Neanderthal interbreeding that has been detected using evidence from modern genomes, weak neanderthal genes are gradually being removed by natural selection, according to researchers:
The Neanderthals disappeared about 30,000 years ago, but little pieces of them live on in the form of DNA sequences scattered through the modern human genome. A new study by geneticists at the University of California, Davis, shows why these traces of our closest relatives are slowly being removed by natural selection.
"On average, there has been weak but widespread selection against Neanderthal genes," said Graham Coop, professor in the UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology and Center for Population Biology, and senior author on a paper describing the work published Nov. 8 in the journal PLOS Genetics. That selection seems to be a consequence of a small population of Neanderthals mixing with a much larger population of modern humans.
[...] "The human population size has historically been much larger, and this is important since selection is more efficient at removing deleterious variants in large populations," Juric said. "Weakly deleterious variants that could persist in Neanderthals could not persist in humans. We think that this simple explanation can account for the pattern of Neanderthal ancestry that we see today along the genome of modern humans."
Juric I, Aeschbacher S, Coop G (2016) The Strength of Selection against Neanderthal Introgression. PLoS Genet 12(11): e1006340. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006340
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 10 2016, @06:45AM
Geeks, nerds, aspies, antisocial losers on the autism spectrum are the human descendants of neanderthals, and it's no coincidence they're becoming hikkis and neets in record numbers and just not breeding anymore. We don't need geeks. The internet has been built. Linux has achieved world domination. The future belongs to Facebook. There's no place left in the gene pool for antisocial genes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 10 2016, @07:05AM
I've actually been kicking around the idea of personality traits as it relates to reproduction.
Obviously more outgoing personalities leads to more reproduction, which leads to it being dominant, but introversion and the difficulties it has should (or is) have been weeded out moreso I think.
But the intra-competition between the extroverted should be more extreme I think, like a whole sub-species of salesmen and personal trainers.
I can see bioluminescence underbodies being the next milestone for evolution.
(Score: 2) by BsAtHome on Thursday November 10 2016, @07:31AM
That is why, once in a while, a B-ark is launched. It balances the traits of those remaining (unless the cleaners are leaving too).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 11 2016, @07:01PM
bioluminescence underbodies
and fuzzy dice?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday November 10 2016, @07:17AM
Why isn't there a "-1 Fractally Wrong" mod?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 10 2016, @07:55AM
What are you claiming is wrong? The neanderthal theory of autism? The existence of a global communication network? The undisputed fact that Linux is installed on more devices worldwide than any OS in history? The declining birth rates in nations of neanderthal ancestry? The popularity of social media?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday November 10 2016, @09:03AM
The "we don't need geeks" part. Yes we bloody well do. The idiot who posted that thinks "the internet" is some freestanding entity made of light and divine fiat. Rather than, as anyone who has worked IT knows, a collection of disparate, oftentimes clashing blinkenlit boxes and gorgons' nests of wires and complex, underdocumented, insecure protocols held together with duct tape and blasphemies in a dozen languages, constantly under siege by evil forces and choked with ad traffic and malware.
The spiralling, fractalling, self-referential irony is enough to make me choke.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 10 2016, @08:27PM
Wait... so it's not a series of tubes?
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday November 10 2016, @09:12PM
That's the most beautiful description of IT reality I've ever read.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 10 2016, @09:01AM
Why is there no -999999 "Get a Sense of Humor" mod?
My god if that stick were any further up your ass, you'd be a head on a pike.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday November 10 2016, @09:06AM
Would heaven that post were actually funny. It's not. There's no artistry, no joie d'vivre, no light in it. If wit is intellect dancing, that post was the poster's intellect doing the Achy Breaky Heart in a tattered polyster suit somewhere off in the corner by itself and reminiscing of its peak experiences in junior high school, before 25 years in retail and 40 pounds of cheap beer gut fat crushed its hopes and dreams to dust.
tl;dr: Ethanol does it better.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 10 2016, @09:25AM
Not seasoned with enough nigger Jew semen for your taste?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday November 10 2016, @05:49PM
What does that taste like? I'm sure you can tell us in vivid, gory detail, AC.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 10 2016, @09:34PM
Why did you say that in a pejorative tone?
What a racist, anti-Semitic homophobe you are!
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 10 2016, @02:44PM
For lots of reasons.
First, being wrong (whether totally or fractally) is not a valid reason for down moderation. Down moderation is there to weed out offtopic stuff and bad behaviour, and only for that. If you look at the options for negative moderations, that should be fairly obvious. If you find something wrong, answer and say what is wrong, and why it is wrong.
Next, you might be wrong in thinking it is wrong. Another reason why you should post the information mentioned, so that others can double-check.
Third, specifically a "fractally wrong" moderation doesn't make sense at all. There's no way to figure out what fraction of the comment you would refer to. Again, with an appropriate comment will give that information.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 10 2016, @09:47PM
Third, specifically a "fractally wrong" moderation doesn't make sense at all. There's no way to figure out what fraction of the comment you would refer to.
fractally ≠ fractionally