Are hairier men more closely related genetically to Neanderthals then less/no hair men?

mcweeden · 2012-05-25T00:35:26.899747+00:00

It's spelled "Phenotype"

mcweeden · 2012-05-24T23:40:06.544122+00:00

neanderthal DNA causes male pattern baldness so it seams quite reasonable to ask if it might also cause hairiness.

mcweeden · 2012-05-24T09:37:20.687963-07:00

You're incorrect:

The difference between human and neanderthal is largely the difference between humans that are alive today.

[...]

The diversity that was present then is largely the diversity that's present still today, and was still present within neanderthals until they went extinct. So at any particular place in your genome you may be more closely related to a neanderthal than you are to some other human.

Also, neanderthal DNA causes male pattern baldness so it seams quite reasonable to ask if it might also cause hairiness.

gwmawboom · 1 day

Autism: The Eusocial Hominid Hypothesis

ASDs (autism spectrum disorders) are hypothesized as one of many adaptive human cognitive variations that have been maintained in modern populations via multiple genetic and epigenetic mechanisms. Introgression from "archaic" hominids (adapted for less demanding social environments) is conjectured as the source of initial intraspecific heterogeneity because strict inclusive fitness does not adequately model the evolution of distinct, copy-number sensitive phenotypes within a freely reproducing population.

Evidence is given of divergent encephalization and brain organization in the Neanderthal (including a ~1520 cc cranial capacity, larger than that of modern humans) to explain the origin of the autism subgroup characterized by abnormal brain growth.

Autism and immune dysfunction are frequently comorbid. This supports an admixture model in light of the recent discovery that MHC alleles (genes linked to immune function, mate selection, neuronal "pruning," etc.) found in most modern human populations come from "archaic" hominids.

Mitochondrial dysfunction, differential fetal androgen exposure, lung abnormalities, and hypomethylation/CNV due to hybridization are also presented as evidence.

A short video introduction (The section discussing autism and fetal hormonal influence on phenotype starts at 3:47)

The full 2-hour video presentation

mcweeden · 2 days

If recently introgressed Neanderthal DNA causes male pattern baldness it seams reasonable to ask if it might also cause hairiness.

Slartibartfastibast · 4 days

That's a nice opinion.

Slartibartfastibast · 4 days

At the bottom of the post "An unusual skull from near Lovelock Nevada" (1967)

You can read the paper for the complete description. My question is this:

Amerindians are already part neanderthal (just like most living humans), and some neanderthals are believed to have been pale redheads. Am I crazy for believing that this skull might be from a different migration than the Siberian one traditionally believed to have populated the Americas?

The top comment:

Not at all:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solutrean_hypothesis

Slartibartfastibast · 4 days

Relevant:

According to Paiute oral history, the Si-Te-Cah are a legendary tribe whose mummified remains were discovered (under four feet of guano) by miners in what is now known as “Lovelock Cave” in Lovelock, Nevada, United States. [...] The Si-Te-Cah and the Paiutes were at war, and after a long struggle a coalition of tribes trapped the remaining Si-Te-Cah in Lovelock Cave. When they refused to come out, the Indians piled brush before the cave mouth and set it aflame. The Si-Te-Cah were annihilated.

"An unusual skull from near Lovelock Nevada" (1967)

A human skull from the Humboldt Sink flats, 2 to 3 mi. southwest of Lovelock Cave, which had been collected by a student and turned in to the University of Nevada early in 1967, was sent to me for study.

...

Striking features of this specimen (Figs. 1-5) include a notably strong browridge, a remarkably developed protruding nuchal crest with a distinct external inion process, and a true os inca or interparietal bone.

The skull is large, ovoid (undeformed), with a fairly high vault but a low and retreating forehead and marked post-orbital constriction. Occipital protuberance would be only slight except for the massive occipital torus or crest.

The mastoic processes are quite large and the supramastoid crests are well developed.

...

Glabellar prominence is very strong with a large continuous browridge over the medial halves of the orbits, which are squarish and horizontal. The malars are large and prominent with moderately well-developed zygomaxillary tuberosities. TIle suborbital areas are nearly flat, with only very slight concavity of the "canine fossae".

The root of the nose is high and narrow, with an effect of nasion depression below the overhanging glabe lIa. Otherwise, the nasal skeleton is missing, together with a portion of the right maxilla.

Slartibartfastibast · 7 days

No problem. Glad I could help.

anutensil · 7 days

OH THE HUMANITY!

I_Hate_Reddit_ · 10 days

Thanks for sharing

My hypothesis or my sentiments?

I jest.

I_Hate_Reddit_ · 10 days

If you had to put your thesis in one sentence, what would it be?

Complex patterns of phenotypic variation in eusocial species may begin with selection for locally-maladaptive collections of niche-specific traits that are heterogeneously expressed in hybrid offspring.

Do you have training in one of the related fields (biology, immunology, neurology...)

Nope. Just an aspie physics major.

I_Hate_Reddit_ · 10 days

Nope. A significant portion of human variation may come from mechanisms that selectively express introgressed "archaic" DNA, meaning that autism could be over-expression of any one of a number of less socially cognizant ancestral phenotypes. Please take a look at the longer video presentation for more info.

I_Hate_Reddit_ · 10 days

I share your sentiments.

I_Hate_Reddit_ · 10 days

they started talking about ants with variable gene expression and I tuned out

Human Societies Starting to Resemble Ant Colonies : Discovery News (~~March~~ May 2, 2012)

"Modern humans have more in common with some ants than we do with our closest relatives the chimpanzees," Mark Moffett, author of the study, told Discovery News. "With a maximum size of about 100, no chimpanzee group has to deal with issues of public health, infrastructure, distribution of goods and services, market economies, mass transit problems, assembly lines and complex teamwork, agriculture and animal domestication, warfare and slavery."

"Ants have developed behaviors addressing all of these problems," added Moffett, a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. He pointed out that only humans and ants have developed full-blown warfare.

[...]

What makes such size and growth possible for a society is that membership can be anonymous, Moffett determined. Members are not required to distinguish each other as individuals for a group to remain unified. Societies are instead bonded by shared identity cues. For ants, those are largely tied to pheromones.

Humans release pheromones too, but we bond in other unique ways.

Moffett explained that "societies require a nationalistic or patriotic kind of bonding, the sort that soldiers die for. The cues humans have used since prehistory to form these groups have included language, rituals and other ethnic traits, though a transformation in recent generations from mostly nationalist (ethnically homogenous) societies to multi-ethnic societies has required increasing dependence on abstract symbols."

That's why it mentions ants. Keep watching.

Edit: Fixed article publication date

I_Hate_Reddit_ · 10 days

Manythanks. Let me know if you have any questions, or if you notice any errors/inconsistencies in the PDF or videos.

I_Hate_Reddit_ · 10 days

Autism: The Eusocial Hominid Hypothesis

ASDs (autism spectrum disorders) are hypothesized as one of many adaptive human cognitive variations that have been maintained in modern populations via multiple genetic and epigenetic mechanisms. Introgression from "archaic" hominids (adapted for less demanding social environments) is conjectured as the source of initial intraspecific heterogeneity because strict inclusive fitness does not adequately model the evolution of distinct, copy-number sensitive phenotypes within a freely reproducing population.

Evidence is given of divergent encephalization and brain organization in the Neanderthal (including a ~1520 cc cranial capacity, larger than that of modern humans) to explain the origin of the autism subgroup characterized by abnormal brain growth.

Autism and immune dysfunction are frequently comorbid. This supports an admixture model in light of the recent discovery that MHC alleles (genes linked to immune function, mate selection, neuronal "pruning," etc.) found in most modern human populations come from "archaic" hominids.

Mitochondrial dysfunction, differential fetal androgen exposure, lung abnormalities, and hypomethylation/CNV due to hybridization are also presented as evidence.

A short video introduction

The full 2-hour video presentation (The section discussing neanderthals and music starts at 23:13)

DrJulianBashir · 10 days

Relevant:

Autism: The Eusocial Hominid Hypothesis

ASDs (autism spectrum disorders) are hypothesized as one of many adaptive human cognitive variations that have been maintained in modern populations via multiple genetic and epigenetic mechanisms. Introgression from "archaic" hominids (adapted for less demanding social environments) is conjectured as the source of initial intraspecific heterogeneity because strict inclusive fitness does not adequately model the evolution of distinct, copy-number sensitive phenotypes within a freely reproducing population.

Evidence is given of divergent encephalization and brain organization in the Neanderthal (including a ~1520 cc cranial capacity, larger than that of modern humans) to explain the origin of the autism subgroup characterized by abnormal brain growth.

Autism and immune dysfunction are frequently comorbid. This supports an admixture model in light of the recent discovery that MHC alleles (genes linked to immune function, mate selection, neuronal "pruning," etc.) found in most modern human populations come from "archaic" hominids.

Mitochondrial dysfunction, differential fetal androgen exposure, lung abnormalities, and hypomethylation/CNV due to hybridization are also presented as evidence.

A short video introduction

The full 2-hour video presentation

DrJulianBashir · 11 days

Autism: The Eusocial Hominid Hypothesis

ASDs (autism spectrum disorders) are hypothesized as one of many adaptive human cognitive variations that have been maintained in modern populations via multiple genetic and epigenetic mechanisms. Introgression from "archaic" hominids (adapted for less demanding social environments) is conjectured as the source of initial intraspecific heterogeneity because strict inclusive fitness does not adequately model the evolution of distinct, copy-number sensitive phenotypes within a freely reproducing population.

Evidence is given of divergent encephalization and brain organization in the Neanderthal (including a ~1520 cc cranial capacity, larger than that of modern humans) to explain the origin of the autism subgroup characterized by abnormal brain growth.

Autism and immune dysfunction are frequently comorbid. This supports an admixture model in light of the recent discovery that MHC alleles (genes linked to immune function, mate selection, neuronal "pruning," etc.) found in most modern human populations come from "archaic" hominids.

Mitochondrial dysfunction, differential fetal androgen exposure, lung abnormalities, and hypomethylation/CNV due to hybridization are also presented as evidence.

A short video introduction

The full 2-hour video presentation

WhatThePenis · 11 days

Short answer: Yes

Long answer:

Cultural diversification promotes rapid phenotypic evolution in Xavánte Indians (Dec 19, 2011)
Evidence for evolution in response to natural selection in a contemporary human population (Oct 3, 2011)
Darwinian selection continues to influence human evolution (April 30, 2012)
James Watson and EO Wilson discuss sociobiology (2005)

Slartibartfastibast

TROPHY CASE

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