WE GATHER once more to pay tribute to a group of persons who did not make it in evolution.
WE GATHER once more to pay tribute to a group of persons who did not make it in evolution.
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by robert mcneil
I refer reverentially to the Denisovans.
These poor schmucks, or certainly one of them, lived in Siberia 50,000 years ago and lost out in the world domination championships to Homo sapiens after extra-time. Scientists discovered the species after studying DNA from a piece of finger bone and two molars found at Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of yonder Siberia.
The fangs and digit (good name for a pub) belonged to a burd with dark skin, brown hair and brown eyes, at least according to her passport photograph. Certainly, the Denisovans appear to have travelled, as there are genetic links with island populations from south-east Asia.
Like everybody else, they waddled out of Africa in the first place and, according to previous research, co-existed with Neanderthals and interbred with our own species, usually after drink had been taken. Recently, a top scientist told a packed public square: "The research will help determine how it was that modern human populations came to expand dramatically in size as well as cultural complexity – ken? – while archaic humans eventually dwindled in numbers and became physically extinct."
Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking. It really is quite amazing what we're learning now. Fate determined that you and I would be sitting here today, eating pies and reading The Herald, while other chaps and burds shuffled off into eternity, leaving behind one teeny bit of bone and a brace of molars.
There but for the grace of Jehovah the Merciless and all that. So where do we go from here? Ooter space is obviously the answer in the long-run. It's the final frontier, according to leading actors, though I suspect we'll find another one after that.
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In praise of - the denisovans.
WE GATHER once more to pay tribute to a group of persons who did not make it in evolution.
I refer reverentially to the Denisovans.
These poor schmucks, or certainly one of them, lived in Siberia 50,000 years ago and lost out in the world domination championships to Homo sapiens after extra-time. Scientists discovered the species after studying DNA from a piece of finger bone and two molars found at Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of yonder Siberia.
The fangs and digit (good name for a pub) belonged to a burd with dark skin, brown hair and brown eyes, at least according to her passport photograph. Certainly, the Denisovans appear to have travelled, as there are genetic links with island populations from south-east Asia.
Like everybody else, they waddled out of Africa in the first place and, according to previous research, co-existed with Neanderthals and interbred with our own species, usually after drink had been taken. Recently, a top scientist told a packed public square: "The research will help determine how it was that modern human populations came to expand dramatically in size as well as cultural complexity – ken? – while archaic humans eventually dwindled in numbers and became physically extinct."
Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking. It really is quite amazing what we're learning now. Fate determined that you and I would be sitting here today, eating pies and reading The Herald, while other chaps and burds shuffled off into eternity, leaving behind one teeny bit of bone and a brace of molars.
There but for the grace of Jehovah the Merciless and all that. So where do we go from here? Ooter space is obviously the answer in the long-run. It's the final frontier, according to leading actors, though I suspect we'll find another one after that.
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