FLavius Valerius Constantinus Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 (edited) link A new study of genes in humans and chimpanzees pins down with greater accuracy when the two species split from one. The evolutionary divergence occurred between 5 million and 7 million years ago, an estimate that improves on the previous range of 3 million to 13 million years in the past. Modern chimps are the closest animal relative to humans. Knowing when the two split has implication both for understanding how quickly evolution works and for imagining the likelihood of intelligent beings elsewhere in the universe, researchers said today. Edited February 15, 2006 by Viggen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Porcius Cato Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 Knowing when the two split has implication both for understanding how quickly evolution works... Except that the rate of evolutionary change is not a universal constant. Some species evolve more quickly than others due to differences in geography and length of the reproductive cycle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 And we now have the additional concept of "fast episodic" adaptation in addition to steady change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M. Porcius Cato Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 And we now have the additional concept of "fast episodic" adaptation in addition to steady change. Pertinax, what would be a very clear example of fast episodic adaptation? And can you point me to a reference? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pertinax Posted December 20, 2005 Report Share Posted December 20, 2005 (edited) in essence "fast and risky mutation", the concept is that the evolutionary adaptation is not slow and steady but can be fast and risky in short sharp bursts within a conservative population , if these risks "pay off" as a coping mechanism there is very rapid generational changeThe idea of general stablity is not subverted but a concept of experimental "testing" is whats suggested.This is a "fits and starts " hypothesis.Ill dig around in my recent mammalian evolution stuff for a decent source. Im just checking over Bakker's "Dinosaur heresies" as a likely ref actually if its within member's general interests id suggest they have a good look at Bakker's book ,(incredibly what was a radical thunderbolt is now almost 20 years old and my copy has gone yellow)! All the evolutionary lateral thinking and actual re-discovery work in this volume are wonderful to read,the "episodic " reference is in the section on Triceratops evolution I think. Edited December 21, 2005 by Pertinax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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