The Journey of Man: A Genetic OdysseyRandom House Trade Paperbacks, 2003 - 218 pages Around 60,000 years ago, a man—genetically identical to us—lived in Africa. Every person alive today is descended from him. How did this real-life Adam wind up as the father of us all? What happened to the descendants of other men who lived at the same time? And why, if modern humans share a single prehistoric ancestor, do we come in so many sizes, shapes, and races? Examining the hidden secrets of human evolution in our genetic code, Spencer Wells reveals how developments in the revolutionary science of population genetics have made it possible to create a family tree for the whole of humanity. Replete with marvelous anecdotes and remarkable information, from the truth about the real Adam and Eve to the way differing racial types emerged, The Journey of Man is an enthralling, epic tour through the history and development of early humankind. |
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Page 28
... genome and part of the mother's genome combine in a 50 : 50 ratio to form the new genome of the baby . Biologically speaking , one of the reasons for sex is that it generates new genomes every generation . The new combinations arise ...
... genome and part of the mother's genome combine in a 50 : 50 ratio to form the new genome of the baby . Biologically speaking , one of the reasons for sex is that it generates new genomes every generation . The new combinations arise ...
Page 29
... genome is present in only one copy ( like a bacterial genome ) , which means that it can't recombine . Bingo . It also turns out that , instead of having one polymorphism roughly every 1,000 nucleotides , it has one every 100 or so . To ...
... genome is present in only one copy ( like a bacterial genome ) , which means that it can't recombine . Bingo . It also turns out that , instead of having one polymorphism roughly every 1,000 nucleotides , it has one every 100 or so . To ...
Page 43
... genome . In the mitochondrion , for instance , there are thirty - seven . The total number of genes in the nuclear genome is around 30,000 approximately 1,500 per chromosome , on average . Most of the thousands of genes that would have ...
... genome . In the mitochondrion , for instance , there are thirty - seven . The total number of genes in the nuclear genome is around 30,000 approximately 1,500 per chromosome , on average . Most of the thousands of genes that would have ...
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actually Adam Africa agriculture analysis ancient animals anthropologists apes appear Asian Australia Cavalli-Sforza cent central Asia China chromosomes clan climate coastal colleagues common ancestor continent culture Darwin defined descendants developed earliest early human east Asia Eurasian Europe Europeans evolution evolutionary expansion extinct favour frequency genes genetic data genetic diversity genetic pattern genetic variation geneticists genome hominid Homo erectus human diversity human genetic human migration human populations hunter-gatherers hunting ice age impala India Indo-European languages infer ingredients journey known last ice age leap lifestyle linguistic living marker Mediterranean Middle East Middle Eastern migration million mitochondrial DNA modern humans molecules mtDNA mutations Native Americans Neanderthals Neolithic non-African northern nucleotide origin past perhaps polymorphisms population genetics recent region route sample Siberia simply soup recipes south-east Asia southern species spoken spread steppe suggests thousands trace unique Upper Palaeolithic western Y-chromosome lineages