Week6 Draft1

Neanderthals and Denisovans were prehistoric humans. Neanderthals lived in Euope and Western Asia about four hundred thousand years ago and were extinct fourty thousand years ago. A distantly related group called the Denisovans originated in Asia. Evidence suggests that modern humans and prehistoric humans overlapped for a period suggesting interbreeding. DNA evidence reveals that there are parts of the human genome shared with the prehistoric humans. In modern African populations, the ressemblence between Africans and Neanderthals is nearly zero or zero, but is found to be at one or two percent in populations from Europe and Asia. Denisovan DNA is found to be lower than four to six percent in Asian populations and undetectable in other parts of the world. The genetic information found from prehistoric humans reveals the differences between modern humans and extinct prehistoric humans. It also reveals that certain variations in phenotypes and to some extent, risk of diseases (though still under study) may be identified. This however, does not reveal how "evolved" modern humans are, nor does it reveal practical information on assessing individual's health.