A team of two proffessors, Graham Coop and Peter Ralph, recently completed a study on genetic relatedness across Europe. Using a gigantic database called the Population Reference Sample databse, Coop and Ralph traced the genetic ancestry of more than 2,000 individuals. What they found matched exactly with what had been predicted decades ago by anthropologists and historians. Almost everyone in their study could be traced back to a small group of less than a dozen individuals, only 3,000 years ago! As populations of humans move apart and are seperated by linguistic or geographical barriers, these population's DNA becomes more and more diverse. However, with the modern technology and analysis tools available, Coop and Ralph were able to match DNA from individuals in Turkey to individuals in the United Kingdom, more than 2,000 miles away. Coop and Ralph hope to expand their studies by using even larger and more complete databases, as well as combining with teams of archeologists and linguists to provide an even more complete picture of history.
NOS themes:
1. Science is based on evidence: the study used real DNA samples and compared them using complex algorithms and even complete DNA sets.
2. Science is collaborative: Ralph and Cooper worked together on this study for several years, and wish to work with larger teams in the future.
3. Role of curiosity: although these results had been predicted for a long time, Ralph and Cooper were the first to succesfully prove the common ancestry of Europeans.
Link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130507195642.htm
It's amazing what scientists can do! After years of speculation that we all came from common ancestors, we finally have proof. It's strange to think that we all came from only a handful of people, and somehow, we're all related by some very distant ancestor. I'd like to add the NOS Role of Credibility. These scientist doing the research have years of experience behind them and the research itself is credible as well.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really cool article. It's fascinating to look at something like this and see how closely related we all are. I think it' even more interesting how we share common traits. This is a link to an article I found on that.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/346687/description/Genetic_diversity_exploded_in_recent_millennia