Humans Nearly Went Extinct 70,000 Years Ago

[Du5t1n 57]

Slashdot brings us a CNN story discussing evidence found by researchers which indicates that humans came close to extinction roughly 70,000 years ago. A similar study by Stanford scientists suggests that droughts reduced the population to as few as 2,000 humans, who were scattered in small, isolated groups. Quoting: "'This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species' history,' said Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence. 'Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world. Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA.'"

http://news.slashdot.org/news/08/04/24/2148235.shtml

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/24/close.call.ap/index.html

[SoulSwordx 0]

Wow who knows what would happen to us in the future

[ZuZu 10]

hmmm... I'm still kinda skeptical, there are some bits i believe and some bits i don't.

i do believe we descended out of Africa because of the remains that have been found that are thousands or tens of thousands of years old, and i do believe that we all come from the same clan because they can trace genetic similarities and see that we all share a common ancestor but i wonder how they know what the climate was like back then? particularly, that a drought nearly caused our extinction.

[Odin 0]

wow. WE USED TO BE CRITICALLY ENDANGERED!!!!!! That's awesome.

[SoulSwordx 0]

wow. WE USED TO BE CRITICALLY ENDANGERED!!!!!! That's awesome.

You want to be endangered ?

[Odin 0]

You want to be endangered ?

Maybe

No, I don't. But I think that it is cool to know that in 70,000 years we went from only 2,000 of us to become the dominant species on the planet.

[Crowned Twili Princess 0]

Whoa...humans almost went extinct 70,000 years ago?

[Ryu 7]

crazy

and slightly......'cough' weird...

[Kimmy 0]

<_< If we were endangered...

Then we repopulated from just 2,000 people...

Looooots of inbreeding. :]

[eyeoftruth 2]

Maybe

No, I don't. But I think that it is cool to know that in 70,000 years we went from only 2,000 of us to become the dominant species on the planet.

When did we become the dominant species on the planet? :S

[Arcane 12]

I'm scared now.

Mostly Off Topic: I Am Legend is awesome!

[Ryu 7]

Dinosaurs were alive 20,000 years ago, humans and dinos were NOT on he planet at the same time, and the dinos ruled Earth LONG before that. Humans were NOT existant 70,000 years ago =P

[PokeFan 0]

lol... ryu, you got it wrong -_- dinosaurs first appeared 50 million years ago, died out 20 million after that XD

[Ryu 7]

sigh......

STILL, that's not even what i meant to post =P

HUMANS. DID. NOT. EXIST. 70,000. YEARS. AGO. DANGIT!!!!!!!!

Apes maybe, but NOT humans.

[ZuZu 10]

World