Summary: Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology have discovered that one to four percent of the human genome (for humans of non-African decent) is derived from Neanderthals!
Why it's a Mind Blow: In this day and age, we tend to take for granted facts from the distant past. We know that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a comet 65 million years ago and that the first humans came from Africa. These facts, like so many in our geological and evolutionary history, are commonly known, and elicit little more than a yawn. Hardly breaking news.
But every once in a while, a story comes along that reminds us just how much we still have to learn about our origins. Today's mind blow, courtesy of the New York Times, is just such an occasion. Scientists have mapped the human genome, and they are now well on their way to completing a genetic map for Neanderthals. It turns out we interbred, and there's a little caveman in many of us.
So that's cool. But what's truly amazing is how we come to know these things. Mapping a genome is a herculean task. The Human Genome Project took thirteen years and is considered one of the most ambitious scientific endeavours of all time. And the bit about the comet that got the dinosaurs? Well, it took decades of searching and the combined discoveries of scientists from several disciplines to verify that theory.
When we hear these tidbits of truth about the deep past, it's important to stop and consider not only the information, but the extraordinary devotion and ingenuity it took to reveal it. The real mind blow here is human curiosity, and the great lengths we're willing to travel to satisfy it.
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/07/science/07neanderthal.html?_r=1
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