Hi One interesting question for psychology, of course, is what is the potential impact of many, many generations (conservatively, 70,000 divided by 50 years a generation gives 1,400 generations) of genetic isolation for differences in psychological make-up of peoples from different regions of the world? Does it not increase the likelihood of meaningful genetic differences between people of different ethnic heritages, something that many psychologists and other social scientists have been loathe to acknowledge? And how will we address this possibility in our classes?
Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax [email protected] >>> "Mike Palij" <[email protected]> 25-Sep-11 9:08:41 AM >>> An interesting article in the NY Times summarizes research published in the journal "Science" of a DNA analysis from an old Aboriginal hair that indicates that the Aborigines may have been the first group of humans to leave Africa. One can read the NY Times article here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/science/23aborigines.html One key point from the NY Times article is made in the following quote: |Based on the rate of mutation in DNA, the geneticists estimate that |the Aborigines split from the ancestors of all Eurasians some |70,000 years ago, and that the ancestors of Europeans and |East Asians split from each other about 30,000 years ago. Of course, there are a number of questions that remain to be answered, two of which are covered in the NY Times article: (1) How did the dingo (a dog) get to Australia? (2) What happened about 6,000 years ago that the caused the tools to become more sophisticated, allowed the population to grow, and appears to be associated with the appearance of the dingo. (NOTE: answers involving space aliens or supernatural entities are not allowed.) And the Science article can be accessed here: http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2011/09/21/science.1211177 -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] P.S. No wiseguy comments a la Stephen Colbert such as "how can a cave painting be 35,000 years old if the world is only 6,000 years old?" For those who missed this, see: http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/06/watch_werner_herzog_completely.html --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a891720c9&n=T&l=tips&o=12941 or send a blank email to leave-12941-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=12946 or send a blank email to leave-12946-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
