Ancient DNA Suggests New Hominid Line, Article Critique Example

The article “Ancient DNA Suggests New Hominid Line” published on the Science News website basically talks about the new opening of finding a new species in the big evolutionary family of humans. The scientists from Germany who identified the new DNA believe that this shocking discovery is going to lead to uncover some more mysteries about our ancestors who lived many thousands years ago. The DNA found in the finger bone of x woman is said to be of hominid that lived on the territory of Altai Mountains “between about 48,000 and 30,000 years ago.” (ScienceNews)

“A hominid is any member of the biological family Hominidae, including the extinct and extant humans, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans.” (Wikipedia) The hominids in question are said to have been leaving Africa in several waves. First wave of Homo erectus happened 1.9 million years ago. The second occurred in between 500,000 and 300,000 years ago, followed by humans about 50,000 years ago. However, the DNA found supports a hypothesis where African hominids who travelled to Europe and Asia were Homo erectus.

The findings extracted from the Denisova Cave in Siberia, Russia, provide evidence of inhabitance of the territory by Neandertals and humans. However, when analyzing the Neandertal fossils scientists noticed a unique mitochondrial sequence. The tests conducted identified that the DNA belongs to an ancient hominid. It does not belong to any kind of bacteria or researchers. The DNA found in the Denisova Cave has been compared to 54 people who live today, who live in Siberia region many years ago as well as Neandertals and modern chimpanzee and chimp.

As a result scientists were able to see that the fossil DNA differs “from that of humans at almost twice as many chemical positions as Neandertal mitochondrial DNA does.” (ScienceNews) What this means is that the scientists are hoping they found and were able to identify a new hominid in the evolutionary line.  German scientists, namely Paabo and Krause, are now directing their analysis to the nuclear DNA research that is going to help identify and prove/disprove the assumptions. However, until the final results of the experiment, researchers are referring to the hominid as an x woman whose finger bone was found in the layer of soil and had bracelets and artifacts of humans.

Keeping in mind that there were about three various kinds of hominids that lived in Altai Mountains, scientists believe that his opening will allow them to identify a much bigger family. However, this statement brings about an argument and critique of other anthropologists and researches.

While some are almost celebrating a unique discovery, other scientists believe that until the solid analysis is conducted it is yet too soon to make big conclusions. The experiments and ancient findings have numerously proven that the species as well as humans had a tendency to mix and mingle which leads to totally new biological mixtures and genetic combinations. Even more, some of the nowadays experiments, for instance, on baboons, sometimes fail to identify the real facts of their genetic group belonging.

The important conclusion that the article allows me to make is that keeping in mind the optimism of new openings, it is essential to provide accurate research before any big statements can be made. Science slowly but proudly is opening more and more light on the animal and human life that occurred on our planet thousands of years ago. However, it all has to be backed up by the solid scientific experiments and research.

Works Cited

Bower, Bruce. “Ancient DNA suggests new hominid line.” ScienceNews. 24 March 2010 http://sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/57573/title/Ancient_DNA_ suggests_new__hominid_line

Wikipedia. The free encyclopedia. 24 March 2010 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hominid