Dec 3, 2011
flounder28 joined My Stranger Face
Dec 3, 2011
flounder28 commented on The Transgression of Neil Patrick Harris.
I'm a biological anthropologist, although, not a specialist in genetics. I've talked to my friends about the recent publications coming out of Max Planck. One of the problems with the 1-4 % of which we are supposed to be Neanderthal is that this is also exactly the error bar on the finding (or so I've been told). So we are 1-4% (+/- 1-4%) neanderthal, which might mean we are 0% neanderthal.
It's also problematic that few other places do exactly the type of research Max Planck can do - grinding up neanderthal fossils to extract the DNA.
Lastly, it just also true that people are wary of this finding because this debate has gone back and forth for YEARS. It's not new. So I think people are waiting for more replications.
It's almost unfortunate that this finding created such a public splash, because if the finding changes again, it's just going to make scientists look stupid. The public doesn't often understand how facts are established over many studies, not a single study.
It's also problematic that few other places do exactly the type of research Max Planck can do - grinding up neanderthal fossils to extract the DNA.
Lastly, it just also true that people are wary of this finding because this debate has gone back and forth for YEARS. It's not new. So I think people are waiting for more replications.
It's almost unfortunate that this finding created such a public splash, because if the finding changes again, it's just going to make scientists look stupid. The public doesn't often understand how facts are established over many studies, not a single study.
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It's also problematic that few other places do exactly the type of research Max Planck can do - grinding up neanderthal fossils to extract the DNA.
Lastly, it just also true that people are wary of this finding because this debate has gone back and forth for YEARS. It's not new. So I think people are waiting for more replications.
It's almost unfortunate that this finding created such a public splash, because if the finding changes again, it's just going to make scientists look stupid. The public doesn't often understand how facts are established over many studies, not a single study.