The Journey of Man: A Genetic OdysseyPenguin Adult, 2003 M05 29 - 224 pages Around 60,000 years ago, a man, identical to us in all important respects, walked the soil of Africa. Every man alive today is descended from him. How did he come to be father to all of us - a real-life Adam? And why do we come in such a huge variety of sizes, shapes, types and races if we all share a single prehistoric ancestor?
In this fascinating book, Spencer Wells shows how the truth about our ancestors is hidden in our genetic code, and reveals how developments in the cutting-edge science of population genetics have made it possible not just to discover where our ancestors lived (and who they may have fought, loved, learned from and influence) but to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. |
From inside the book
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... samples to reflect a biased view of the population from which they are drawn . If you flip a coin 1,000 times , you expect ... sample for the next generation is created anew in the present generation ( as is the case for living organisms ) ...
... sample . It is possible to do this because almost all atoms come in more than one ' flavour ' , depending on how many subatomic building blocks ( particles called neutrons ) they have . Through the alchemy of particle physics , the ...
... sample to decay - around 5,700 years . Since carbon is used to build organic molecules , like those found in plant and animal tissues , the method is fantastic for dating human remains . The problem is that beyond about 40,000 years ago ...