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Brings us back to: Our own origins continue to surprise us
Translated from Dutch. View the original post
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The new insights about the origin of man follow each other at a rapid pace. A good reason to take a look at the latest developments in an extremely dynamic field.
Wil Roebroeks is professor of Human Origins at Leiden University. Five years ago, our enthusiastic guest writer Rob Oele interviewed him. But there is already a lot of news to report. So it's time to ask Rubreeks again. And then two new developments are immediately discussed. First of all, genetics always offers revolutionary perspectives. And secondly, the idea that modern man and Neanderthals might exchange knowledge among themselves instead of 'we' eradicating them as often thought. An account of a fascinating conversation between two people with a passion for how our history once began.
Getting (Human) DNA from a teaspoon of sediment
Oele: My first question to Ruebroeks is what he believes are the most important innovation (s) of the past five years. He mentions above all a methodological innovation, namely the ability to extract DNA from sediments and identify genera and species from them. Specifically, you have to imagine sending a piece of soil, dust or mud from, for example, the bottom of a cave to a laboratory like that of the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig. The colleagues there are then able to draw up a list of species based on the biomolecules in a teaspoon of sediment tens of thousands of years old. These can be plants and animals, but also early people (species). Rubbed: “That is really great!”.
Wil Roebroeks is professor of Human Origins at Leiden University. Five years ago, our enthusiastic guest writer Rob Oele interviewed him. But there is already a lot of news to report. So it's time to ask Rubreeks again. And then two new developments are immediately discussed. First of all, genetics always offers revolutionary perspectives. And secondly, the idea that modern man and Neanderthals might exchange knowledge among themselves instead of 'we' eradicating them as often thought. An account of a fascinating conversation between two people with a passion for how our history once began.
Getting (Human) DNA from a teaspoon of sediment
Oele: My first question to Ruebroeks is what he believes are the most important innovation (s) of the past five years. He mentions above all a methodological innovation, namely the ability to extract DNA from sediments and identify genera and species from them. Specifically, you have to imagine sending a piece of soil, dust or mud from, for example, the bottom of a cave to a laboratory like that of the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig. The colleagues there are then able to draw up a list of species based on the biomolecules in a teaspoon of sediment tens of thousands of years old. These can be plants and animals, but also early people (species). Rubbed: “That is really great!”.
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