The story is way more complex, geneticists’ association admits. From ScienceDaily:
Relationships between the ancestors of modern humans and other archaic populations such as Neanderthals and Denisovans were likely more complex than previously thought, involving interbreeding within and outside Africa, according to a new estimator developed by geneticists. Findings were reported at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) 2016 Annual Meeting in Vancouver, B.C.
…
“Overall, our findings confirm the human family tree is more complicated than we think it is,” Dr. Bohlender said. “For example, other archaic populations are likely to have existed, like the Denisovans, who we didn’t know about except through genetics.” They plan to try out simulations with multiple other populations, to see if this adds some clarity to the results.
Dr. Bohlender also believes that more detailed studies of African populations may shed some light. “Africans have been underrepresented in genetics research — they’re not as well studied as European and Asian populations, yet they are more diverse genetically than any other group,” he said. – American Society of Human Genetics. “Ancient human history more complex than previously thought, researchers say.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 October 2016. More.
Don’t bet against high levels of uncertaintyand fraud as well. The stories tend to just fall out of the news cycle and are replaced by similar ones in due course.
One wnders what prompted the American Society for Human Genetics to put out this editorial at ScienceDaily? Reading pop science mags, and concluding that the public is being misinformed?
See also: Human evolution: “Taxonomic and undefinable mess”
Neanderthal Man: The long-lost relative turns up again, this time with documents
and
Red wolf not “endangered”; a hybrid?
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