There's DNA in 'Neanderthal'

Unravelling A Mystery


Scientists have managed to sequence a partial draft of the genetic code of the Neanderthals. They had 99.5% to almost 99.9% of their coding in common with modern humanity. That's a pretty significant find.

The achievement demonstrates the feasibility of determining the entire genetic makeup of Neanderthals, as well as other extinct species, using DNA from fossils, the researchers said. The draft includes less than 1 percent of the DNA from a 38,000-year-old Neanderthal fossil, but the researchers said they expect to have a complete draft in two years.

An analysis of the partial DNA code shows that Neanderthals separated from the human line about half a million years ago, according to the team of German and American scientists. The team said it found no evidence to support a controversial theory that Neanderthals and ancient humans mated.

But the greatest significance of the announcement, other researchers said, is that it shows that the science of ancient genomics -- once solely the stuff of fiction like "Jurassic Park" -- has arrived. A genetic understanding of the Neanderthals, who made sophisticated tools and buried their dead, could reveal details like the color of their hair and perhaps whether they could speak. And it would allow researchers to identify the final, crucial genetic changes, long after the split with chimpanzees, that set humans apart and allowed their ancestors to prosper while Neanderthals died out.

"It is an amazing thing to be able to reconstruct the genome of an ancient organism," said David Reich , a genetics specialist at Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the research. "What they have done is an incredibly important technical achievement."
The research, published jointly by the journals Nature and Science, is also a testament to teamwork and sheer persistence. The scientists painstakingly examined some 70 Neanderthal bones in various collections before finding one -- recovered by paleontologists in a Croatian cave -- without too much contamination and with enough viable DNA.

Read on to find out how they got this DNA data.

Robodog

A Little Spooky
Here's something from the mailbox. Do check out this article.

BigDog is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics family of robots. It is a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog's legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule, measuring 1 meter long, 0.7 meters tall and 75 kg weight.

BigDog has an on-board computer that controls locomotion, servos the legs and handles a wide variety of sensors. BigDog’s control system manages the dynamics of its behavior to keep it balanced, steer, navigate, and regulate energetics as conditions vary. Sensors for locomotion include joint position, joint force, ground contact, ground load, a laser gyroscope, and a stereo vision system. Other sensors focus on the internal state of BigDog, monitoring the hydraulic pressure, oil temperature, engine temperature, rpm, battery charge and others.

So far, BigDog has trotted at 3.3 mph, climbed a 35 degree slope and carried a 120 lb load.

A long way yet to a fully combat-ready space robot of Science Fiction, but it's pretty neat all the same. :)