RE: Progress schmogress (was Re: competition)

["Christopher Lavers" <Chris.Lavers@nottingham.ac.uk>]

>Genetic support for the idea that human and Neanderthal were indeed >different 
>species: results from 379-base-pair strands of hypervariable >mitochondrial 
>DNA: average difference of individual human from Anderson >sequence (the 
>reference) = 8 substitutions. Human/chimp = 55. >Human/Neanderthal = 26. 
>(Estimated human/Neanderthal split = 550,000->690,000 years ago). Of all 
>living humans whose mitochondria have been >sequenced, none has anything like 
>a Neanderthal in their maternal lineage - >no sign of gene flow at all.

P.S. See also Martin Jones's *The Molecule Hunt* soon to be published by 
Penguin. Deals with the hunt for dino DNA, too. Copies can be pre-ordered at 
amazon.co.uk. Don't know if it's being simultaneously launched in the US - 
unlikely.