Man’s ancient origins traced

Tracing man’s origins is always been fascinating. Where did we come from? How did we get here? How many where there in the beginning? Who was there in the beginning?

Clues came from archeological digs, but these days, genetic studies give us more more specific answers. And a decade-long ambitious effort looked at the genes of more than 3,000 people in 121 populations groups across Africa and more in Europe and the United States to find out just where humans came from.

Results from the study were very interesting.

• Genetic patterns show ed that the first humans emerged somewhere in southern Africa, near where Namibia is now.
• There’s genetic evidence that hypertension, prostate cancer and lactose intolerance have been around since the early days of human evolution!
• Of the specific groups studied, the scientists reported that African-Americans came from many diverse groups all over Africa, so it will be difficult to pin-point where one’s ancestors originated from.
• And contrary to popular notion, people from the isolated African tribes were “very, very cooperative” in providing their blood samples because they also wanted to know about their origin.

The study was published this Thursday on Science Express, the online early edition of Science. The SF Chronicle also featured the study.

image: flickr