Please Unsubcribe... [meteorite-list] avoirdupois ?

From: Sterling K. Webb <kelly_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:22:36 2004
Message-ID: <3EE67CD8.E9FA37E0_at_bhil.com>

Hi,

    On average, if you pick any two human individuals, each from
any random location on the planet, and test the degree of
relatedness of their DNA, you will find they're about 13th
cousins. That's with widely assorted human specimens, like
comparing an Australian aboriginal with an Irish cop from the
Bronx...
    On the other hand, if you select individuals from a
restricted area with a fairly homogeneous population, like
Ireland, you will average a relationship ranging from 5th to 7th
cousins.
    (This would be ideal spot to insert a joke about selecting
individuals from eastern Kentucky or Arkansas, but I'm not going
to do it. Huh-uh, not me.)
    What this implies is that modern humans are a recent and
hence very uniform species. Two mice picked at random would show
10 to 12 times the genetic divergence of randomly selected human
beings.
    And still, you know, all those mice look alike to me....


Sterling K. Webb
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sharkkb8_at_aol.com wrote:

>
>
>> they are all related in their basic DNA. So it is possible at
>> a very basic level that they are all related.
>
> OK, then if that's the case, isn't it rather pointless for any
> one person to specify ancestors, since everyone ELSE is related
> to them, too? Or am I drinking my own bath water? ;-)
>
> Gregory
Received on Tue 10 Jun 2003 08:50:33 PM PDT