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38 thoughts on “Neanderthals in the news again”

    1. Bobby

      Doesn't mean they were more intelligent. The argument for brain size and a special or racial indicator of intelligence was disproven along with phrenology back in the early 1900s (and before).

      1. roboto

        MRI IQ/brain size study:

        In healthy volunteers, total brain volume moderately correlates with intelligence, with a correlation value between 0.3 and 0.4 out of a possible 1.0.

        1. rick_jones

          So long as it is not the opening text of a comment, this blog allows links in a comment. You should avail yourself of that feature.

      1. Joseph Harbin

        Dolphins have bigger brains than humans and studies show zero dolphins ever voted for Donald Trump, so clearly they're smarter too. Then why are humans the dominant species on this planet and not dolphins?

        Dolphins have flippers. Humans have hands.

    4. Salamander

      And whales have much larger brains than humans; birds, much smaller. It appears size may not be the best indicator.

      Then again, maybe the Neanderthals actually were significantly more intelligent than H. sapiens. Maybe more ethical, more spiritual, more ecological (sound familiar?) And maybe the reason they became extinct was that the H. sapiens had no such scruples or ethics, a more tribal "hate anybody who isn't us" social structure, and no compunction against killing off the "inferior" race.

      It wouldn't be the first time. H. sapiens has a long, LONG track record of this. Even the Old Testament celebrates genocide, when done by "the right people."

      1. cld

        I think the evidence was suggesting something like Neanderthals being more sedentary than h. sapiens and that whenever modern humans wandered through an area there would be some gene exchange until everyone homogenized, the neanderthals, more in a puddle as it were, ending up with getting the most out of the exchange.

      2. zaphod

        ""hate anybody who isn't us" social structure, and no compunction against killing off the "inferior" race."

        Hate to admit it, but that does sound like us.

      3. rick_jones

        From the article:

        The Neanderthal haplotype is almost completely absent from Africa. That fact, along with factors such as a young population, could help explain why deaths and severe forms of the disease appeared to be less common in much of Africa than in some other world regions with better healthcare systems, scientists say.

          1. rick_jones

            Yet before you were asserting:

            Then again, maybe the Neanderthals actually were significantly more intelligent than H. sapiens. Maybe more ethical, more spiritual, more ecological (sound familiar?) And maybe the reason they became extinct was that the H. sapiens had no such scruples or ethics, a more tribal "hate anybody who isn't us" social structure, and no compunction against killing off the "inferior" race.

            It wouldn't be the first time. H. sapiens has a long, LONG track record of this. Even the Old Testament celebrates genocide, when done by "the right people."

      4. J. Frank Parnell

        I always liked the theory that the Neanderthals died out (and Neanderthal DNA was incorporated to Homo Sapiens) becasue the Neanderthal women just found the Homo Sapien men hotter.

  2. cld

    23andMe tells me I have more Neanderthal dna than 30% of their other customers, which is relatively low, so I've relatively lucked out.

    Does that explain why I've had such an excessive reaction to the vaccines?

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