Good article on the evolution of humans

Lucy, the mother of us all.

I just read a great article in the New York Times. It's an interview with Chris Stringer, a British paleoanthropologist, and it touches on so many interesting topics. It's about where humans came from, why we have 2.5% Neanderthal DNA, and whether we're still evolving. Good stuff. Here's a short excerpt about the pre-humans in Africa who were our forebears. He's discussing the situation just before homo sapiens appeared:

Populations in different areas would have flourished briefly, developed new ideas, and then maybe those populations could have died out, even — but not before exchanging genes, tools and behavioral strategies. This kept happening until we get to within the last 100,000 years, and then finally we start to see the modern pattern behaviorally and physically coalescing from these different regions to become what we call modern humans by about 60,000 years ago.

Apparently, we are the result of a mix of many pre-human populations. We're mutts.

Aside: The fact that humans have only been around for 60,000 years is shocking. The universe is nearly 14 billion years old. Earth is about 4.7 billion years old. And we've been here for, uh, about five minutes and have nearly managed to kill the entire planet in that short time. Makes you think (and shudder).

Go read the article. You'll be glad you did. Knowledge is good.

Underwater = heaven

"I like to be, under the sea," as they say in the song (though I could easily forgo the octopus' garden). I love to be underwater. The moment I'm under, I'm home.

This is something I feel in my heart. I don't care if it's a pool or an ocean, I'm happy down there. While snorkeling near coral reefs in Jamaica, with fish hovering near me in the water, all of us lit and warmed by beams of sunlight, I never felt more at home.

Is this an ancestral memory? The creatures that came before us spent a lot of time in warm, shallow waters. Did this perception of water as home travel down through the ages to me? Is it a sort of inheritance? There's something so right about life underwater. It sure looks like home to me.

Does something strike this same chord in you? Tell us about it.