Theos-Talk Archives (May 1996 Message tl00263)

alexis dolgorukii wrote:
>
> At 05:01 PM 5/3/96 -0400, you wrote:
> >>I saw this and remembered that HPB and more so GdeP said that apes were
> descended from man rather than the other way round. I have looked up the
> >quotes but I won't post them unless requested. Science may be getting
> >closer to the SD in yet another area.
> >> Reuter
> >>
> >> SYDNEY (May 3) - Gorillas and chimpanzees should be reclassified into the
> >> same species group as humans because of the closeness of their DNA,
> >> according to a team of Australian and New Zealand scientists.
> >>
> >> The scientists on Friday called for a formal revision of the genus homo and
> >> for species classification to be based on DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid).
> >>
> >> "If you compare other mammal groups, like genus ratus (rat) there is much
> >> more divergence in DNA than there is between humans and chimpanzees,"
> >> Australian scientist Simon Easteal, from the John Curtin School of Medical
> >> Research in Canberra, told Reuters on Friday.
> >>
> >> "If the (species) classification is to have any sort of meaning and
> >> standard we should be in the same genus," said Easteal, a member of a team
> >> of Australian and New Zealand scientists who presented a paper "Human
> >> Origins and Evolution" at the Australian Academy of Science in Canberra on
> >> Friday.
> >>
> >> Using a nuclear DNA test the scientists found humans diverged from
> >> chimpanzees about 3.6 to four million years ago and the two had diverged
> >> from gorillas between four and five million years ago.
> >>
> >> "There is only 1.6 percent difference between our nuclear DNA and that of a
> >> chimpanzee, and only 1.7 percent difference from a gorilla," Easteal said.
> >> "The coding DNA is closer still and some DNA shows absolutely no
> >> differences at all."
> >>
> >> Eastel said the DNA test indicated that both chimpanzees and humans had a
> >> common ancestor who walked upright.
> >>
> >> Developments in DNA research meant that the old rules of classification of
> >> species based on appearance was now obsolete, as changes in DNA sequences
> >> were a more reliable way to classify animals than outward appearances
> >> because DNA appeared to change more evenly.
> >>
> >> "I think classification should be based on DNA distances. This (genus homo)
> >> is just one case of that," he said.
> >>
> >> DNA is the substance that functions as the chemical bearer of hereditary
> >> characteristics.
> >
> >--
> >
> >
> >
> >   Bee Brown
> >   Member TSNZ,Wanganui Branch.
> >   Theos Int & L
> >
> >
> >Bee: Thanks for that posting it's fascinating and to me kind of wonderful.
> If you want to read a really wonderful book read:"When Elephants Weep" by
> Jeffrey Mousseiff Masson. it makes one laugh and weep.
>
> alexis d.

Thanks I will keep a look out for it. I have not heard of it before/
--



   Bee Brown
   Member TSNZ,Wanganui Branch.
   Theos Int & L