Well I read the whole article but still can't figure out how they can figure when lice changed from head lice to clothing lice. Must be something above my pay scale. But supposedly that still left many thousands of years between the time when most humans lost their body hair and they started wearing clothes. That must have been a fun time.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...s-170-000-years-ago-according-study-LICE.html
I've seen the figure as 70KYA many times. This may be a misprint. As for the timetable, the mutation rate of genes is fairly constant. So the number of mutations is like a clock ticking. Body hair was lost when the entire human population still lived in Africa. In such a warm climate it was not a handicap. Humans had already made the transition from grazers to predators. Killing animals, butchering the meat, and eating it (without metal knives and forks) is a really sloppy life; a person with less body hair would need to spend less time bathing
I can understand that thinking, but not sure how they can tell what was a mutation and what wasn't, so they could have an accurate count. If I had to try and live that way now or die. I would just die and be done with it.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
They might have ate most of there food raw... But honestly I don't think lice will accurately tell us anything. They don't talk!
This discussion should probably be moved to the Biology board, where there are people who could explain that.
They use a gene "clock". Basically, all species accumulate genetic changes at a more or less constant rate. This rate is calibrated by knowledge of past species divergences. So by comparing the number of changes between two species, it is possible to estimate how long ago they diverged. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_clock
If you know someone, who could provide some help here, please invite them to give it a shot. I would think those people wouldn't mind explaining it in this subforum would they?
Yeah! I was busy responding to an earlier post and you slipped that in to quickly. Next time I'll try and pick up my pace a bit.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Some forums give you a notice that someone has posted something while you were composing your own post, and then give you an opportunity to change your response.
That would be helpful. I'm aware of more advanced forum software, but I imagine doing an upgrade without impacting the members can be a nail biting experience. <Just my guess as to why it hasn't been done yet>
