Rose wrote:
"The story says they extracted proteins, not DNA, Mike."
Exactly. Mike, I'm old enough to remember that it was by using much the same imune reactions that scientists first came up with the idea humans and apes had separated a mere 5 or so million years ago. Before that we believed the split was much more ancient. We had to be vastly different from them!
Mitochondrial DNA later supported the 5 million year interval but some research I posted (on "Out of Asia not Africa" I think) shows the separation was actually quite complex and involved several periods of back hybridization, which makes sense.
Mike, as you say genetic evidence is "far, far more accurate than Archeology or Paeleontology, of digging up bones and skulls in Olduvali Gorge Africa, and other parts of the world?" But these pieces of evidence are also valuable for filling out the picture.
