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Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes
What can we learn from the genomes of our closest evolutionary relatives?
Neanderthal Man tells the story of geneticist Svante Pääbo’s mission to answer this question, and recounts his ultimately successful efforts to genetically define what makes us different from our Neanderthal cousins. Beginning with the study of DNA in Egyptian mummies in the early 1980s and culminating in the sequencing of the Neanderthal genome in 2010, Neanderthal Man describes the events, intrigues, failures, and triumphs of these scientifically rich years through the lens of the pioneer and inventor of the field of ancient DNA.
We learn that Neanderthal genes offer a unique window into the lives of our hominin relatives and may hold the key to unlocking the mystery of why humans survived while Neanderthals went extinct. Drawing on genetic and fossil clues, Pääbo explores what is known about the origin of modern humans and their relationship to the Neanderthals and describes the fierce debate surrounding the nature of the two species’ interactions. His findings have not only redrawn our family tree, but recast the fundamentals of human history—the biological beginnings of fully modern Homo sapiens, the direct ancestors of all people alive today.
A riveting story about a visionary researcher and the nature of scientific inquiry, Neanderthal Man offers rich insight into the fundamental question of who we are.
Neanderthal Man tells the story of geneticist Svante Pääbo’s mission to answer this question, and recounts his ultimately successful efforts to genetically define what makes us different from our Neanderthal cousins. Beginning with the study of DNA in Egyptian mummies in the early 1980s and culminating in the sequencing of the Neanderthal genome in 2010, Neanderthal Man describes the events, intrigues, failures, and triumphs of these scientifically rich years through the lens of the pioneer and inventor of the field of ancient DNA.
We learn that Neanderthal genes offer a unique window into the lives of our hominin relatives and may hold the key to unlocking the mystery of why humans survived while Neanderthals went extinct. Drawing on genetic and fossil clues, Pääbo explores what is known about the origin of modern humans and their relationship to the Neanderthals and describes the fierce debate surrounding the nature of the two species’ interactions. His findings have not only redrawn our family tree, but recast the fundamentals of human history—the biological beginnings of fully modern Homo sapiens, the direct ancestors of all people alive today.
A riveting story about a visionary researcher and the nature of scientific inquiry, Neanderthal Man offers rich insight into the fundamental question of who we are.
372 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 11, 2014
350 people are currently reading
12031 people want to read
About the author
Svante Pääbo
5 books112 followersSvante Pääbo is a Swedish biologist specializing in evolutionary genetics. One of the founders of paleogenetics, he has worked extensively on the Neanderthal genome. Since 1997, he has been director of the Department of Genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
In 2022, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution".
In 2022, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 392 reviews
February 22, 2025
I must admit I was easily seduced by the title, being very curious about the Neanderthals, and didn’t even realize until I started it that this book is really about the science of extraction and sequencing of the Neanderthal DNA (yes, it’s basically in the title but I was too distracted by the “Ooh, shiny!” mention of Neanderthals to read it properly).
For a book titled “The Neanderthal Man” it actually has very little to do with Neanderthals. If you are curious about humanity long-extinct cousins, look elsewhere. It’s not that kind of a book. It’s not about them at all. What makes this book worth reading has nothing to do with the Neanderthals but rather with how science is done. Svante Pääbo and his team could have sequenced anything else other than Neanderthal genome (and he didn’t set out to decode Neanderthal genome initially in any case) and it still would have been a fascinating story of how modern science is done, how a new scientific field of paleogenetics is created out of knowledge and curiosity and thinking outside the box and embracing innovation.
(Interestingly, Pääbo never seems that concerned with what made Neanderthals different and what they were like but rather what made *us*, humans, what we are, different both from Neanderthals and our more distant ape cousins.)
Pääbo progresses from clandestine experiments of trying to extract DNA using store-bought calf liver and a lab microwave to the formation of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany (and apparently he’s responsible for that Institute having a sauna, in case you wondered). The assembling of the team, finding people whose strengths complemented each other, changing your collaborators when necessary, and seeing personality differences and ego clashes and colleagues becoming scientific rivals and vice versa — it’s a fascinating adventure in real science process. We see the messy side of science, the failed experiments, the mistakes and frustrations and excruciating waiting for meaningful results. There are detailed explanations and dense science paragraphs in science jargon, and all that nitty-gritty that at the same time seems both logical and accessible and yet often manages to sail right over my head no matter how hard I try to understand. Scientific progress has little to do with “Eureka!” moments and much more with long work hours in experiments and perseverance and obsessive double- and triple-checking of your work and willingness to take your work into new directions which may be very different from the goals you set for yourself at the start.
I don’t particularly care about genetics, really (PCR takes me back to some undergraduate lab experience that I didn’t find all that interesting), and there were parts in Pääbo’s narrative that I thought were a bit unnecessary (some personal backstory and strong opinions about competitors I could have lived without), but it still captivated me precisely because of letting me see the process of science in the making and the rivalry and politics of science.
(Interesting thing Pääbo mentions is that way more men than women suspect they may be modern-day Neanderthals, probably because of the more male-appropriate, apparently, traits of robust built and supposed brutishness. Which says way more about our cultural biases than it can ever say about Neanderthals.)
And at the end, unexpectedly for me we get a chapter of discovery of the Denisovans’ DNA, and it’s mind-boggling that a single piece of a finger bone can expand our evolutionary cousin tree so much.
Pääbo got a Nobel Prize for his work, and it seems appropriate.
4 stars.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
For a book titled “The Neanderthal Man” it actually has very little to do with Neanderthals. If you are curious about humanity long-extinct cousins, look elsewhere. It’s not that kind of a book. It’s not about them at all. What makes this book worth reading has nothing to do with the Neanderthals but rather with how science is done. Svante Pääbo and his team could have sequenced anything else other than Neanderthal genome (and he didn’t set out to decode Neanderthal genome initially in any case) and it still would have been a fascinating story of how modern science is done, how a new scientific field of paleogenetics is created out of knowledge and curiosity and thinking outside the box and embracing innovation.
(Interestingly, Pääbo never seems that concerned with what made Neanderthals different and what they were like but rather what made *us*, humans, what we are, different both from Neanderthals and our more distant ape cousins.)
Pääbo progresses from clandestine experiments of trying to extract DNA using store-bought calf liver and a lab microwave to the formation of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany (and apparently he’s responsible for that Institute having a sauna, in case you wondered). The assembling of the team, finding people whose strengths complemented each other, changing your collaborators when necessary, and seeing personality differences and ego clashes and colleagues becoming scientific rivals and vice versa — it’s a fascinating adventure in real science process. We see the messy side of science, the failed experiments, the mistakes and frustrations and excruciating waiting for meaningful results. There are detailed explanations and dense science paragraphs in science jargon, and all that nitty-gritty that at the same time seems both logical and accessible and yet often manages to sail right over my head no matter how hard I try to understand. Scientific progress has little to do with “Eureka!” moments and much more with long work hours in experiments and perseverance and obsessive double- and triple-checking of your work and willingness to take your work into new directions which may be very different from the goals you set for yourself at the start.
“Science is far from the objective and impartial search for incontrovertible truths that nonscientists might imagine. It is, in fact, a social endeavor where dominating personalities and disciples of often defunct yet influential scholars determine what is “common knowledge.”
I don’t particularly care about genetics, really (PCR takes me back to some undergraduate lab experience that I didn’t find all that interesting), and there were parts in Pääbo’s narrative that I thought were a bit unnecessary (some personal backstory and strong opinions about competitors I could have lived without), but it still captivated me precisely because of letting me see the process of science in the making and the rivalry and politics of science.
(Interesting thing Pääbo mentions is that way more men than women suspect they may be modern-day Neanderthals, probably because of the more male-appropriate, apparently, traits of robust built and supposed brutishness. Which says way more about our cultural biases than it can ever say about Neanderthals.)
And at the end, unexpectedly for me we get a chapter of discovery of the Denisovans’ DNA, and it’s mind-boggling that a single piece of a finger bone can expand our evolutionary cousin tree so much.
Pääbo got a Nobel Prize for his work, and it seems appropriate.
4 stars.
——————
Also posted on my blog.
May 4, 2014
Good science writing by the actual scientist, always a plus. Part autobiography, part earnest attempts to guide the reader accurately through all the complex steps by which such genetic work is actually done. (And also to show the equally complex social networks through which science is done.)
I had enjoyed hitting up 23andme last year for its estimate of my own personal percentage of "Neanderthal genome". (I was very close to the European average, unsurprisingly.) It was fascinating to see where that option really all came from. And rather stunning, in a science-fictional way, how soon such gene-scanning became available to the general public, which is a new thing in the world.
I must say, it was also deeply amusing to me, when the news of Neanderthal gene-crossing into modern humans first came out a while back, just how fast all the artists' representations of Neanderthals were upgraded.
I love this sort of stuff.
Ta, L.
February 7, 2018
I have a friend who is a science professor and we attend a book group together. A few years back he suggested the book Spillover by David Quammen and I found that its impact on me was tremendous. I appreciate those who are battling the next series of pandemics we will face (some a lot worse than the current influenza season). [my review can be found here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... ]
I had the same anticipation when he recommended this book by Svanto Paabo. My GR friend Jean describes it as more a memoir than a science book. I feel the same but this book comes with plenty of technical jargon that only a genetic scientist could love.
Speaking of genetics, I have found the subject fascinating for a long time, but it is clear from this book that those who work in the field have to have some very deep skill sets in order to gain further insights. Paabo has been hard at work for several decades in digging out the secrets from the DNA of extinct species. He calls his specialty, “ancient DNA.” His focus eventually turned to other members of our primate “tree.”
He and his team have been responsible for some key insights into Neanderthal man and the relationship of that line of development to Homo Sapiens. Those of you who have had your own DNA evaluated may have found that your DNA contains a percent or two of Neanderthal DNA. That data proves one of the insights that Paabo was responsible for confirming: Our species and Neanderthals actually interacted and produced offspring during their common time on Earth. This and other insights are scattered through this book.
Whether you find this book to your liking may depend on how much information you want about Paabo’s associates, competitors and the culture of advanced degree academia. Or, it may be how much you are attracted to or daunted by the language of the subject. Paabo is not as talented as Quammen at putting concepts and procedures in layman’s language. Here are some examples to test your reaction:
“When Johannes made libraries from the extracts, he applied one of Adrian Brigg’s innovations to deal with the chemical damage that changed C nucleotides in the DNA to U nucleotides.”
“The comment was fun to write but also somewhat bitter, given that studies such as the Utah one had become a constant feature of the ancient DNA field. The problem of high-profile but dubious results still plagues research on ancient DNA today. As my students and postdocs have often remarked to me, it is easy to generate outlandish results with the PCR but difficult to show that they are correct…”
“When he looked at divergence of the Denisova DNA sequences from the human and Neanderthal genomes, he, like Nick , found that the Denisova genome shared more derived SNA alleles with the Neanderthal genome than with modern humans. “
Paabo’s work is exciting and I learned a lot about it and about the field, including that there is a panel of DNA available that is a collection from 938 humans from 53 separate populations around the world!
For me, less career musings and a more concerted effort on bringing the import of Paabo’s paradigm-shattering work to us lay people would have been welcome. I was just never swept away by the narrative in the way I expected to be.
I had the same anticipation when he recommended this book by Svanto Paabo. My GR friend Jean describes it as more a memoir than a science book. I feel the same but this book comes with plenty of technical jargon that only a genetic scientist could love.
Speaking of genetics, I have found the subject fascinating for a long time, but it is clear from this book that those who work in the field have to have some very deep skill sets in order to gain further insights. Paabo has been hard at work for several decades in digging out the secrets from the DNA of extinct species. He calls his specialty, “ancient DNA.” His focus eventually turned to other members of our primate “tree.”
He and his team have been responsible for some key insights into Neanderthal man and the relationship of that line of development to Homo Sapiens. Those of you who have had your own DNA evaluated may have found that your DNA contains a percent or two of Neanderthal DNA. That data proves one of the insights that Paabo was responsible for confirming: Our species and Neanderthals actually interacted and produced offspring during their common time on Earth. This and other insights are scattered through this book.
Whether you find this book to your liking may depend on how much information you want about Paabo’s associates, competitors and the culture of advanced degree academia. Or, it may be how much you are attracted to or daunted by the language of the subject. Paabo is not as talented as Quammen at putting concepts and procedures in layman’s language. Here are some examples to test your reaction:
“When Johannes made libraries from the extracts, he applied one of Adrian Brigg’s innovations to deal with the chemical damage that changed C nucleotides in the DNA to U nucleotides.”
“The comment was fun to write but also somewhat bitter, given that studies such as the Utah one had become a constant feature of the ancient DNA field. The problem of high-profile but dubious results still plagues research on ancient DNA today. As my students and postdocs have often remarked to me, it is easy to generate outlandish results with the PCR but difficult to show that they are correct…”
“When he looked at divergence of the Denisova DNA sequences from the human and Neanderthal genomes, he, like Nick , found that the Denisova genome shared more derived SNA alleles with the Neanderthal genome than with modern humans. “
Paabo’s work is exciting and I learned a lot about it and about the field, including that there is a panel of DNA available that is a collection from 938 humans from 53 separate populations around the world!
For me, less career musings and a more concerted effort on bringing the import of Paabo’s paradigm-shattering work to us lay people would have been welcome. I was just never swept away by the narrative in the way I expected to be.
February 6, 2018
I found this most interesting and fun book to read. It is written in the first person just as if Svanto Paabo was sitting beside the reader telling the story of how he mapped the genome. Some technical information is provided and explained but mostly he tells about himself and his colleagues and their work. The way the book is written keeps the reader engaged and enthralled with the story. The book reads like a memoir rather than a scientific book.
The story starts in 1981, when Paabo, a Swedish graduate student, became obsessed with ancient DNA. He extracted DNA from Egyptian mummies; at that time no one had any idea the desiccated flesh of mummies contained any genetic material. In this book Paabo reveals the three decades of research that led to the mapping of the Neanderthal genome. Toward the end of the book Paabo reveals in passing that he is the secret extramarital son of Sune Bergstrom, a well known biochemist and co-winner of the Nobel Prize.
The book is well written and is easy to read; all scientific technical information is simply explained for the lay person. I learned a lot about the Neanderthal and about DNA from the book as well as the workings of higher education politics. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. Dennis Holland does a good job narrating the book.
The story starts in 1981, when Paabo, a Swedish graduate student, became obsessed with ancient DNA. He extracted DNA from Egyptian mummies; at that time no one had any idea the desiccated flesh of mummies contained any genetic material. In this book Paabo reveals the three decades of research that led to the mapping of the Neanderthal genome. Toward the end of the book Paabo reveals in passing that he is the secret extramarital son of Sune Bergstrom, a well known biochemist and co-winner of the Nobel Prize.
The book is well written and is easy to read; all scientific technical information is simply explained for the lay person. I learned a lot about the Neanderthal and about DNA from the book as well as the workings of higher education politics. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. Dennis Holland does a good job narrating the book.
January 21, 2017
Ever since I had my DNA analyzed by 23andMe and they told me I am 2.6 percent Neanderthal I've wondered how that is possible. This book explains the complexities. It is written by the leader of the project who first sequenced Neanderthal DNA. This is a very recent occurrence and happened after modern homo sapien DNA was sequenced in 2003. Turns out the Neanderthal project team was as surprised as me that most humans contain DNA from an extinct creature. They weren't predicting this result. This book got really exciting as it neared the end and the team raced to publish their findings.
March 8, 2014
Svante Paabo, perhaps the most eminent paleo-geneticist in the world, has written a science blockbuster recounting the trail of his sequencing of the Neanderthal and Denisovans genomes. Not only has he given us an exciting story of discovery, competition, camaraderie and the world of science, but he has written it in language that the informed layperson can grasp.
Sequencing ancient DNA required a series of technological breakthroughs, each of which began as a mystery and ended with an innovation that solved it. Finding Neanderthal DNA required Paabo to convince a museum to part with enough bone to process into genetic "libraries." Only small fragments could be isolated for sequencing, so how could these be mapped against modern human DNA to identify similarities and differences? One of the pleasures of this book is Paabo's descriptions of each genetic puzzle and how a team of determined scientists met every Friday for years to work out how the pieces fit together.
Ultimately, Paabo's team at the Max Planck Institute succeed in isolating mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from Neanderthal bones and publish the genome in Science, a coup of the highest order. Along the way, it becomes clear that modern humans and Neanderthals were not only contemporaries in Europe and Asia, but they clearly mated and left progeny who have passed down Neanderthal DNA to modern humans. I myself was fascinated to learn that I share 3.3%of my DNA with Neanderthals.. But there is a coda. A tiny bone fragment from an ancient cave in Siberia turns out to belong to an even more ancient hominem--the Denisovans. Paabo's team, using their newly developed technological tools were able to rapidly sequence nearly 70% of the genome of a very young girl who died of unknown causes over 100,000 years ago.
This is a delicious book for the science lover and of special interest to anyone who shares Neanderthal genetic heritage.
Sequencing ancient DNA required a series of technological breakthroughs, each of which began as a mystery and ended with an innovation that solved it. Finding Neanderthal DNA required Paabo to convince a museum to part with enough bone to process into genetic "libraries." Only small fragments could be isolated for sequencing, so how could these be mapped against modern human DNA to identify similarities and differences? One of the pleasures of this book is Paabo's descriptions of each genetic puzzle and how a team of determined scientists met every Friday for years to work out how the pieces fit together.
Ultimately, Paabo's team at the Max Planck Institute succeed in isolating mitochondrial and nuclear DNA from Neanderthal bones and publish the genome in Science, a coup of the highest order. Along the way, it becomes clear that modern humans and Neanderthals were not only contemporaries in Europe and Asia, but they clearly mated and left progeny who have passed down Neanderthal DNA to modern humans. I myself was fascinated to learn that I share 3.3%of my DNA with Neanderthals.. But there is a coda. A tiny bone fragment from an ancient cave in Siberia turns out to belong to an even more ancient hominem--the Denisovans. Paabo's team, using their newly developed technological tools were able to rapidly sequence nearly 70% of the genome of a very young girl who died of unknown causes over 100,000 years ago.
This is a delicious book for the science lover and of special interest to anyone who shares Neanderthal genetic heritage.
December 16, 2017
A hard-to-put-down true-life science detective story about decoding the Neanderthal genome. Later chapters include Denisovans. Book ends in updated Postscript telling of the latest research on the FoxP2 language gene, and what happens to nice when they have the human version inserted into their genome.
November 16, 2014
Overall, this book did not completely live up to my expectations. While it was a fairly interesting premise, the author veered off track too often for me.
Author's Premise: Are we related to Neanderthal Man? If so, how?
Book's Structure: First 3rd is autobiographical. Second 3rd is heavily technical discussion of mitochondrial & ribosomal DNA- its extraction, viability and study. Final 3rd: interesting discussion of how we share certain genes with Neanderthals and how this possibly could have come to pass.
The good: If you are interested in the inner politics and workings of scientific discovery this books goes into great detail about this. The author proves pretty conclusively that we share DNA with ancient humans and has some plausible reasons why. The last third was the most interesting to me.
The bad: Author got side tracked by his own personal biography too often. The premise of the book did not drive the whole narrative.
Author's Premise: Are we related to Neanderthal Man? If so, how?
Book's Structure: First 3rd is autobiographical. Second 3rd is heavily technical discussion of mitochondrial & ribosomal DNA- its extraction, viability and study. Final 3rd: interesting discussion of how we share certain genes with Neanderthals and how this possibly could have come to pass.
The good: If you are interested in the inner politics and workings of scientific discovery this books goes into great detail about this. The author proves pretty conclusively that we share DNA with ancient humans and has some plausible reasons why. The last third was the most interesting to me.
The bad: Author got side tracked by his own personal biography too often. The premise of the book did not drive the whole narrative.
July 22, 2025
3⭐️
Викопні ДНК, мтДНК, секвенуваня, досліди, досліди, перші знахідки, і фіксація результату - майже увесь текст у цьому дусі, і є ще трохи особистого про Сванте. Не сильно цікаво, проте роботу зробили норм.
Викопні ДНК, мтДНК, секвенуваня, досліди, досліди, перші знахідки, і фіксація результату - майже увесь текст у цьому дусі, і є ще трохи особистого про Сванте. Не сильно цікаво, проте роботу зробили норм.
July 21, 2016
I really wanted to like this because it's by a scientist, but I can't honestly say this is a great read. The science is solid but there apparently isn't enough interesting to say about Neanderthal Man to carry a book. So the rest is filler about the author and the office politics of science and the names of the people who found the caves that the bones were in that he analyzed in his lab, etc., etc.
February 22, 2025
I've tried reading this book twice, and failed twice, finding it a fine sleep-aid. Not what I was hoping for! In person, Svante Pääbo is a really good lecturer, and he's done some pathbreaking paleogenomic research. But in this book, he couldn't tell a story that kept my attention. May just be me, but I gave up.
November 22, 2015
What a fascinating ride! From working on the genome itself, through the way research institutions work to the personality of Paabo himself.
The book is written very much in the same convention as The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World, which is about the competition between Venter and Collins to sequence the genome. Paabo's book has the same unabashed honesty about rivalry in the science world, but here it's not written by journalist about the scientist, it is written by the scientist himself. Loved it.
I would love all scientists to be like Paabo, actually. He seems really anal in his insistence on purity, repetition of results, checking everything trice, and he seems entirely trustworthy because of that.
Fascinating as well how much we can learn from a tiny fragment of bone of an individual human who had lived eons ago.
5+
The book is written very much in the same convention as The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World, which is about the competition between Venter and Collins to sequence the genome. Paabo's book has the same unabashed honesty about rivalry in the science world, but here it's not written by journalist about the scientist, it is written by the scientist himself. Loved it.
I would love all scientists to be like Paabo, actually. He seems really anal in his insistence on purity, repetition of results, checking everything trice, and he seems entirely trustworthy because of that.
Fascinating as well how much we can learn from a tiny fragment of bone of an individual human who had lived eons ago.
5+
August 20, 2025
Книжка Паабо — це історія становлення важливої наукової галузі: від групи ентузіастів до великої сфери досліджень, що приносить своїм ученим Нобелівські премії.
Це історія його наукової кар’єри, викликів, з якими він зіштовхнувся — від створення власної лабораторії до секвенування першого у світі геному неандертальця — проривної роботи, що принесла йому Нобелівку.
«Наука далека від об’єктивного та неупередженого пошуку незаперечних істин, які можуть уявляти собі не вчені. Насправді це соціальне заняття, де домінантні особистості та учні часто вже не живих, але впливових учених, визначають, що вважається “загальновідомим”є».
🧬 5 фактів з книжки «Неандерталець» Сванте Паабо
1 — Сучасні люди (окрім африканських народів та їхніх нащадків) мають 1–4% неандертальської ДНК. Тобто наші пращури не просто співіснували з неандертальцями, а й спарювалися та проживали разом деякий відрізок часу.
2 — Після публікації цього відкриття, вчений отримав 46 листів від чоловіків, які вважали себе неандертальцями, і 12 від жінок, які були певні, що їхні чоловіки — неандертальці 😂
3 — Паабо мав бурхливе особисте життя, і не оминув цю частину в книжці. Посеред серйозних пояснень про ДНК автор раптом зізнається у своїй бісексуальності, згадує, як почав роман з одруженою жінкою після випадкового дотику їхніх колін, одружився через бюрократію і провів медовий місяць голяка на пляжі.
4 — Під час розкопок у Віндійській печері виявили кістки неандертальців, потовченими на дрібні уламки, з характерними слідами здирання м’яса (як це робили неандертальці з оленями) та вилучення кісткового мозку. Чи це був релігійний ритуал, чи факт канібалізму, ми вже не дізнаємося. Але саме такий «швидкий» розбір тіл призвів до того, що частина уламків висохла швидше, не давши бактеріям зруйнувати ДНК. І завдяки цьому вчені змогли виділити більше генетичного матеріалу, ніж із похованих останків.
5 — До 10 місяців немовлята людей і дитинчата мавп розвиваються майже однаково. Але вже у 12 місяців люди починають робити те, чого мавпи не роблять — показувати пальцем, щоб привернути увагу. Це перша когнітивна ознака, унікальна для людини. Також люди рано починають імітувати жести та вирази старших і активно навчаються у дорослих, тоді як мавпи майже всього вчаться методом спроб і помилок.
Це історія його наукової кар’єри, викликів, з якими він зіштовхнувся — від створення власної лабораторії до секвенування першого у світі геному неандертальця — проривної роботи, що принесла йому Нобелівку.
«Наука далека від об’єктивного та неупередженого пошуку незаперечних істин, які можуть уявляти собі не вчені. Насправді це соціальне заняття, де домінантні особистості та учні часто вже не живих, але впливових учених, визначають, що вважається “загальновідомим”є».
🧬 5 фактів з книжки «Неандерталець» Сванте Паабо
1 — Сучасні люди (окрім африканських народів та їхніх нащадків) мають 1–4% неандертальської ДНК. Тобто наші пращури не просто співіснували з неандертальцями, а й спарювалися та проживали разом деякий відрізок часу.
2 — Після публікації цього відкриття, вчений отримав 46 листів від чоловіків, які вважали себе неандертальцями, і 12 від жінок, які були певні, що їхні чоловіки — неандертальці 😂
3 — Паабо мав бурхливе особисте життя, і не оминув цю частину в книжці. Посеред серйозних пояснень про ДНК автор раптом зізнається у своїй бісексуальності, згадує, як почав роман з одруженою жінкою після випадкового дотику їхніх колін, одружився через бюрократію і провів медовий місяць голяка на пляжі.
4 — Під час розкопок у Віндійській печері виявили кістки неандертальців, потовченими на дрібні уламки, з характерними слідами здирання м’яса (як це робили неандертальці з оленями) та вилучення кісткового мозку. Чи це був релігійний ритуал, чи факт канібалізму, ми вже не дізнаємося. Але саме такий «швидкий» розбір тіл призвів до того, що частина уламків висохла швидше, не давши бактеріям зруйнувати ДНК. І завдяки цьому вчені змогли виділити більше генетичного матеріалу, ніж із похованих останків.
5 — До 10 місяців немовлята людей і дитинчата мавп розвиваються майже однаково. Але вже у 12 місяців люди починають робити те, чого мавпи не роблять — показувати пальцем, щоб привернути увагу. Це перша когнітивна ознака, унікальна для людини. Також люди рано починають імітувати жести та вирази старших і активно навчаються у дорослих, тоді як мавпи майже всього вчаться методом спроб і помилок.
December 27, 2014
This will be one of my top reads of 2014. This disarmingly frank tale of Paabo's thirty years at the cutting edge of historic DNA sequencing work as a tale of scientific pioneering, giving rare insight into the politics, money, rivalry, passion and innovation of modern science.
Paabo's frank, almost naive, tone can be cringeworthy at times - especially discussing his affair with a colleague, and you have to wonder how some of his colleagues feel about his well-meaning descriptions of them - but is always entertaining. He matter-a-factly discusses everything from realising your cost estimates were in the wrong currency, to the delicacy of ending long-term partnerships when the technology is better elsewhere, to navigating the iron curtain in the 1980s. The result is a very easy read that bridges the chasm between peer-review-is-foolproof and scientists-are-all-corrupt, to give you the warts and wonders of rapid scientific advances. Paabo includes a great deal of detail on the technological advances in gene sequencing, as well as a readable introduction to the main debates in the human origins field, but the detail never weighs the book down - it floats definitively in the relatively easy reading category of science books.
In the end, Paabo's narrative is the tale of the development of a key scientific field from a group of enthusiasts to a major research field producing Nobel prize winners. Parallel to this is the development of a young man who just wants to sample Mummy DNA into a Foundation head, a passionate young man into a comfortably happy father.
The book, as is the case with many I argue with on the reading, is one that has stayed with me, giving a real sense of the excitement of science, while never shirking the reality of collegial camps and rivalries, the endless struggle for financing and the corrupting influence of headline-grabbing media. This is science as it is really done, and emerges even more heroic for it.
Paabo's frank, almost naive, tone can be cringeworthy at times - especially discussing his affair with a colleague, and you have to wonder how some of his colleagues feel about his well-meaning descriptions of them - but is always entertaining. He matter-a-factly discusses everything from realising your cost estimates were in the wrong currency, to the delicacy of ending long-term partnerships when the technology is better elsewhere, to navigating the iron curtain in the 1980s. The result is a very easy read that bridges the chasm between peer-review-is-foolproof and scientists-are-all-corrupt, to give you the warts and wonders of rapid scientific advances. Paabo includes a great deal of detail on the technological advances in gene sequencing, as well as a readable introduction to the main debates in the human origins field, but the detail never weighs the book down - it floats definitively in the relatively easy reading category of science books.
In the end, Paabo's narrative is the tale of the development of a key scientific field from a group of enthusiasts to a major research field producing Nobel prize winners. Parallel to this is the development of a young man who just wants to sample Mummy DNA into a Foundation head, a passionate young man into a comfortably happy father.
The book, as is the case with many I argue with on the reading, is one that has stayed with me, giving a real sense of the excitement of science, while never shirking the reality of collegial camps and rivalries, the endless struggle for financing and the corrupting influence of headline-grabbing media. This is science as it is really done, and emerges even more heroic for it.
June 28, 2017
This book is less about Neanderthals themselves and more about the biological and technical details of extracting their long-extinct genomes from the preserved bones we’ve found, and also about Svante Pääbo himself — it touches on his bisexuality, his moves between institutions, even his affair with a colleague’s wife. I could’ve done without the personal info; it often felt like it was completely incidental to the extraction and sequencing going on in his teams. There were some interesting bits in the way his team worked together, and his decisions as the leader, but his affair with Linda Vigilant was entirely irrelevant.
Still, it’s a fascinating narrative taken as a whole, tracking the various theories, setbacks and new techniques Svante Pääbo and his team went through in finally extracting and sequencing the Neanderthal genome. There’s some coverage, too, of how it differs from the Homo sapiens genome and that of chimpanzees, and what that means in terms of phylogeny and the relationships in the family tree of human development. It also touches on some of the politics of science: rival groups, jockeying for funding, terminating partnerships which aren’t delivering what you hoped… A reminder that you’re never gonna get away from politics of some sort, I suppose!
I found it deeply interesting and well explained, though I am a little disappointed that it was more of an autobiography of Pääbo’s working life than about Neanderthals and what we know about them because of his work.
Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
Still, it’s a fascinating narrative taken as a whole, tracking the various theories, setbacks and new techniques Svante Pääbo and his team went through in finally extracting and sequencing the Neanderthal genome. There’s some coverage, too, of how it differs from the Homo sapiens genome and that of chimpanzees, and what that means in terms of phylogeny and the relationships in the family tree of human development. It also touches on some of the politics of science: rival groups, jockeying for funding, terminating partnerships which aren’t delivering what you hoped… A reminder that you’re never gonna get away from politics of some sort, I suppose!
I found it deeply interesting and well explained, though I am a little disappointed that it was more of an autobiography of Pääbo’s working life than about Neanderthals and what we know about them because of his work.
Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.
March 25, 2014
Left at 40%. This is the type of book I would like for me to enjoy. I've always thought of myself as someone interested in science. I have also learned valuable details of how quickly DNA disintegrates and how difficult it is to extract ancient DNA without contaminating it. That's what most of the book that I've read was about. That and a few details of the author's life.
This is not a bad book. It just isn't what I need right now. I want some mind-numbing blood splatter to cool of my frazzled nerves. Not dusty Neandthertal bones. I want something which is easy to digest and which requires just enough brain cells to keep my mind off work - but not so many they exhaust my already depleted energy resources. Maybe I'll get back to this one day. More likely not.
This is not a bad book. It just isn't what I need right now. I want some mind-numbing blood splatter to cool of my frazzled nerves. Not dusty Neandthertal bones. I want something which is easy to digest and which requires just enough brain cells to keep my mind off work - but not so many they exhaust my already depleted energy resources. Maybe I'll get back to this one day. More likely not.
October 14, 2023
Exceptional. Immaculate. Quite simply one of the best popular science books by a scientist I’ve read. Svante is widely regarded as a giant and inventor of paleogenetics, having made critical contributions to our understanding of human evolution. However, with his award of the Nobel Prize - his illustrious career had officially transcended the approbation of human geneticists - he now belonged to the small cadre of humanity’s most important thinkers. I had to read this book.
Initially, I thought this book would be akin to reading a popular-science rendition of the field of paleogenetics. In actuality, this is truly an autobiography in which Svante touches on his upbringing, sexuality, opinions of other scientists as well as the actual science of course. This is was a pleasant surprise. Most scientists are keen to limit their books on the science, and it was quite refreshing to see this book touch on the many disparate components of what makes a world class scientist. Curiosity, a keenness on collaboration, neuroticism, competitiveness and somewhat out of touch with the everyday world.
In “Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes” - Svante Paabo has written a must-read for aspiring and current scientists or folks with a passing interest in science. This is a gripping read, and one in which you can run out of superlatives to describe.
Initially, I thought this book would be akin to reading a popular-science rendition of the field of paleogenetics. In actuality, this is truly an autobiography in which Svante touches on his upbringing, sexuality, opinions of other scientists as well as the actual science of course. This is was a pleasant surprise. Most scientists are keen to limit their books on the science, and it was quite refreshing to see this book touch on the many disparate components of what makes a world class scientist. Curiosity, a keenness on collaboration, neuroticism, competitiveness and somewhat out of touch with the everyday world.
In “Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes” - Svante Paabo has written a must-read for aspiring and current scientists or folks with a passing interest in science. This is a gripping read, and one in which you can run out of superlatives to describe.
Read
October 26, 2022Svante Paabo is the recently crowned Nobel Prize Winner in Medicine. This book is his memoir, a fast-paced book which contains the nitty-gritty details of his thrilling intellectual adventure: his undergraduate in medicine, his fascination and early explorations of ancient Egyptian mummies' DNA extractions, his quests in the lab to genome-sequence Neanderthal DNA through PCR and other advanced methods, journeys to the American deserts to trap the live kangaroo rats and compare them with extinct ones, excursions into Croatian caves to witness Neanderthal remains, and much more. He walks the reader through the process of life in the lab, from the group meetings to resolve setbacks in amplifying DNA, through the actual methodology, through the publication process. This book also lets his personality shine through a bit, he speaks freely about his relationships, friendships and rivalries. [read 2/3 only]
November 13, 2025
By some fortuitous chain of events, one of my best friends will, fingers crossed, meet the Nobel Prize winners this year, Pääbo among them. Since I don't get to go, I felt it necessary to do some research until I could send her over with some questions so that she could make a complete and utter fool of herself on my behalf.
Pääbo is a fascinating man. His team is the one that studied and published the discovery of the Denisovan remains!! He got the idea to extract DNA from mummies before getting his doctorate in the 80s, and then spent a very long time figuring out how to get a lab clean enough not to get contaminated samples, and then even more time trying to get one that wasn't degraded.
In this book, you learn about the trial-and-error process of analysing ancient DNA until you get enough data to reach any significant conclusion. Both cooperation and rivalries fuel the geneticists, and the race to publish first is fraught with conundrums: publish before doing your due diligence and risk being proven wrong by your peers, wait too long and see another team scoop your discovery.
Oh, and if you've ever wondered why the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig has a sauna, it was his idea. I can't recommend this book enough.
Pääbo is a fascinating man. His team is the one that studied and published the discovery of the Denisovan remains!! He got the idea to extract DNA from mummies before getting his doctorate in the 80s, and then spent a very long time figuring out how to get a lab clean enough not to get contaminated samples, and then even more time trying to get one that wasn't degraded.
In this book, you learn about the trial-and-error process of analysing ancient DNA until you get enough data to reach any significant conclusion. Both cooperation and rivalries fuel the geneticists, and the race to publish first is fraught with conundrums: publish before doing your due diligence and risk being proven wrong by your peers, wait too long and see another team scoop your discovery.
Oh, and if you've ever wondered why the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig has a sauna, it was his idea. I can't recommend this book enough.
January 24, 2016
A few years ago, my partner and I went to a conference in Northern Japan where we had the luck to have dinner with a paleontologist. Excited, I asked her about the Neanderthals and she gave a quick, paranoid sweep of the dining hall before leaning in and whispering, "They're an ancestor."
"As in...direct?"
She nodded, before proceeding to unfurl a sorry, nefarious tale about "those people" at the Max Planck Institute who have a monopoly on the narrative and that's why we're not hearing the real story. Little did I know, but I'd just stumbled into the longstanding tiff between the multi-regionalists and those who support the out-of-Africa theory, between the paleontologists and paleo-geneticists. As a bitchy saber tooth tiger might say, "raaaaar!"
After reading this, you'll come down firmly on the side of "those people," if only because Paabo comes off as unceasingly rigorous and uncertain of his findings, even admitting in the last chapter that a tiny Siberian finger bone might have thrown the theories of both sides up in the air. I've never seen so much fretting over bacterial contamination, and it's absolutely riveting.
"As in...direct?"
She nodded, before proceeding to unfurl a sorry, nefarious tale about "those people" at the Max Planck Institute who have a monopoly on the narrative and that's why we're not hearing the real story. Little did I know, but I'd just stumbled into the longstanding tiff between the multi-regionalists and those who support the out-of-Africa theory, between the paleontologists and paleo-geneticists. As a bitchy saber tooth tiger might say, "raaaaar!"
After reading this, you'll come down firmly on the side of "those people," if only because Paabo comes off as unceasingly rigorous and uncertain of his findings, even admitting in the last chapter that a tiny Siberian finger bone might have thrown the theories of both sides up in the air. I've never seen so much fretting over bacterial contamination, and it's absolutely riveting.
March 30, 2016
This book provided a lot of technical detail about mtDNA, which was very enjoyable and educational. I am more familiar with nuclear DNA and was happy to gain a more in depth understanding of mtDNA while enjoying a great story. More surprising though was the amount of personal detail shared by the author. I loved his candid and matter-of-fact way of writing about his personal relationships and his interpretation of the politics that accompany academic competition. Great read.
May 9, 2023
This book could have been a masterpiece if only it had a better pacing. It had either pages bombarded with specs and scientific jargon, or pages of interesting (or not so, sometimes) events. Well, would't discard it it... but an editor should have taken better care of it.
***No disrespect to the writter and his achievements: what I said is about about the book and its "structure"***
Edit:
Έα βιβλίο που θα μπορούσε να το απόλυτο αριστούργημα για τον ερασιτέχνη ενδιαφερόμενο για την παλαιοανθρωπολογία (και ειδικά για τις τελευταίες μορφές Homo Sapiens που συνηπήρξαν με τον Homo Sapiens Sapiensis -εμάς δηλαδή, σε περίπτωση πουπρέπει να βγάλετε τα παπούτσια για να μετρήσετε πάνω από το 10). Δυστυχώς, χάνει στο ρυθμό. Κάποιες σελίδες του κυριολεκτικά βομβαρδίζονται με προδιαγραφές και επιστημονική ορολογία, ενώ άλλες βρίθουν ενδιαφερόντων (ή όχι τόσο, μερικές φορές) γεγονότων. Λοιπόν, δεν θα το απέρριπτα... αλλά ένας επιμελητής θα έπρεπε να είχε φροντίσει λίγο καλύτερα την αρχική έκδοση (από τη μετάφραση είναι λίγο άκομψο και δύσκολο να παρέμβεις στη δομή και διάρθρωση ενός βιβλίου).
Μόλα ταύτα, και παρά το γεγονός ότι ουδόλως ενδιαφέρει τον αναγνώστη "πώς το τρίβει το πιπέρι" ο Svante (οι αναφορές στην εκτός έργου ζωή του και τη σεξουαλικότητά του και τις σχέσεις του δεν είναι ιδιαίτερα φειδωλές), η ιστορία του πώς "ξετυλίχτηκε" το γονιδίωμα του Νεάντερταλ και πώς εξελίχθηκε η ίδια η διαδικασία της αποκωδικοποίησης που βοήθησε να φτάσουμε στα συμπεράσματα του σήμερα, δεν αφήνει ασυγκίνητο τον αναγνώστη.
Και, ναι, επειδή ΔΕΝ θα μπείτε στον κόπο να το διαβάσετε, έχετε μέσα σας γονίδια Νεάντερταλ ΚΑΙ Ντενίσοβαν. Την επόμενη φορά που θα πετάξετε απορημένοι το σαγόνι σας μπροστά ξύνοντας αφηρημένοι τη μασχάλη σας, μπορείτε να το αποδώσετε σε κάποιο αταβισμό που ραγίζει την μέχρι πρότινος αμόλυντη "Κρο Μανιόν" εικόνα σας σας διαμέσου δεκάδων χιλιετιών.
Και, ναι, το ότι έχετε γονίδια Νεάντερταλ, σημαίνει ακριβώς αυτό που νομίζετε ως προς τις σχέσεις των δύο "υποδειδών".
Είναι μεγάλο κρίμα που αυτή η διαπίστωση δεν έγινε πάνω σε άριους Γερμανούς της περιόδου 1933-1945... θα γελάγαμε ακόμα.
***No disrespect to the writter and his achievements: what I said is about about the book and its "structure"***
Edit:
Έα βιβλίο που θα μπορούσε να το απόλυτο αριστούργημα για τον ερασιτέχνη ενδιαφερόμενο για την παλαιοανθρωπολογία (και ειδικά για τις τελευταίες μορφές Homo Sapiens που συνηπήρξαν με τον Homo Sapiens Sapiensis -εμάς δηλαδή, σε περίπτωση πουπρέπει να βγάλετε τα παπούτσια για να μετρήσετε πάνω από το 10). Δυστυχώς, χάνει στο ρυθμό. Κάποιες σελίδες του κυριολεκτικά βομβαρδίζονται με προδιαγραφές και επιστημονική ορολογία, ενώ άλλες βρίθουν ενδιαφερόντων (ή όχι τόσο, μερικές φορές) γεγονότων. Λοιπόν, δεν θα το απέρριπτα... αλλά ένας επιμελητής θα έπρεπε να είχε φροντίσει λίγο καλύτερα την αρχική έκδοση (από τη μετάφραση είναι λίγο άκομψο και δύσκολο να παρέμβεις στη δομή και διάρθρωση ενός βιβλίου).
Μόλα ταύτα, και παρά το γεγονός ότι ουδόλως ενδιαφέρει τον αναγνώστη "πώς το τρίβει το πιπέρι" ο Svante (οι αναφορές στην εκτός έργου ζωή του και τη σεξουαλικότητά του και τις σχέσεις του δεν είναι ιδιαίτερα φειδωλές), η ιστορία του πώς "ξετυλίχτηκε" το γονιδίωμα του Νεάντερταλ και πώς εξελίχθηκε η ίδια η διαδικασία της αποκωδικοποίησης που βοήθησε να φτάσουμε στα συμπεράσματα του σήμερα, δεν αφήνει ασυγκίνητο τον αναγνώστη.
Και, ναι, επειδή ΔΕΝ θα μπείτε στον κόπο να το διαβάσετε, έχετε μέσα σας γονίδια Νεάντερταλ ΚΑΙ Ντενίσοβαν. Την επόμενη φορά που θα πετάξετε απορημένοι το σαγόνι σας μπροστά ξύνοντας αφηρημένοι τη μασχάλη σας, μπορείτε να το αποδώσετε σε κάποιο αταβισμό που ραγίζει την μέχρι πρότινος αμόλυντη "Κρο Μανιόν" εικόνα σας σας διαμέσου δεκάδων χιλιετιών.
Και, ναι, το ότι έχετε γονίδια Νεάντερταλ, σημαίνει ακριβώς αυτό που νομίζετε ως προς τις σχέσεις των δύο "υποδειδών".
Είναι μεγάλο κρίμα που αυτή η διαπίστωση δεν έγινε πάνω σε άριους Γερμανούς της περιόδου 1933-1945... θα γελάγαμε ακόμα.
June 6, 2024
Πόσο αγαπώ τη σειρά Vulgata των εκδόσεων ΠΕΚ! Από την εξέλιξη -που απ' όσο γνωρίζω εξακολουθεί να μη διδάσκεται στα σχολεία- και τη δημιουργία φαρμάκων έως πιο εξειδικευμένα θέματα όπως τα αποδημητικά πουλιά τα βιβλία αυτά είναι προσιτά στον καθένα ακόμη και σε μικρότερες ηλικίες και καλύπτουν άνετα αρκετά κενά του άθλιου εκπαιδευτικού συστήματος της χώρας.
December 29, 2021
This book takes you on Pääbo's journey from grad student to renowned scientist as tirelessly continued his work in sequencing the genomes of early humans.
The book is written very personally, and it felt like he was a buddy telling you his life story over drinks, not just as a scientist talking about their hard work. He admits to faults and mistakes and friends and rivals and the politics of Sweden and Germany and Russia and everywhere across the world. He is very aware of the social and racial implications of his research but remains positive of the impact of his work.
There were also a lot of mentions of "new" technology that were coming out through the 80s, 90s, and beyond that enthralled me. It's one thing to read a history of the PCR machine, it's another to read first hand about Pääbo fighting for time to use one in Berkeley in the late 80s
Overall very interesting and fun memoir!
The book is written very personally, and it felt like he was a buddy telling you his life story over drinks, not just as a scientist talking about their hard work. He admits to faults and mistakes and friends and rivals and the politics of Sweden and Germany and Russia and everywhere across the world. He is very aware of the social and racial implications of his research but remains positive of the impact of his work.
There were also a lot of mentions of "new" technology that were coming out through the 80s, 90s, and beyond that enthralled me. It's one thing to read a history of the PCR machine, it's another to read first hand about Pääbo fighting for time to use one in Berkeley in the late 80s
Overall very interesting and fun memoir!
October 4, 2016
I was disappointed in this book. I learned very little about our present knowledge of Neanderthals, and a lot more than I wanted to about the author's personal life. He presented excruciating detail on the long process of getting support, funding, and various methods of extracting DNA. I also learned about his relationships, professional and private. Looking back at the title: Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes, I guess I should have figured it out. Apparently "Neanderthal Man" referred to the author himself and not to our ancient cousins.
Oh well, I chose poorly in terms of my interests. I finished the book, but I'm not sure it was worth it.
Oh well, I chose poorly in terms of my interests. I finished the book, but I'm not sure it was worth it.
December 17, 2014
Tremendous! Paabo does a great job at outlining the tedium and excitement of science. He happens to have made discoveries with his science that few other people can even dream of. A great read for those interested in genetics, human history, and knowing just how much Neanderthal/Human gene mixing occured.
January 4, 2020
Increíble. No tenía ni la menor idea de toda la gestión que puede vivir un hombre de ciencia con el fin de poder darnos algo que poder entender. Svante Pääbo, nacido en 1955, es un biólogo, que por cuestiones de la vida que es tan extraña y rara a veces, terminó entregándole a la humanidad un poco de entendimiento sobre sí mismo. La investigación íntegra sobre la tasa de incidencia en el hombre moderno del Homo Neandertalensis y del hombre Denisovano.
Después de historias que relatan el trabajo técnico (para lo cual agradezco mucho la coincidencia de primero haber leído ADN de James Watson), al igual que leer con toques personales toda la travesía de viajes para la obtención de diversas muestras de huesos y demás, el producto final es la revisión de un único artículo para ser publicado en Science o en Nature o en Cell, todo con el fin de aclarar las dudas de la humanidad sobre sus orígenes.
El relato finaliza con la mención del gen FOXP2, el cual se encuentra en el hombre neandertal y no en los chimpancés, y de sobra en el hombre moderno; es el gen que está ligado a la estructura del lenguaje. Por tanto, es muy probable que el hombre neandertal haya contado con una especie de mitos y rituales primitivos a aquellos del hombre moderno, lo cual explica por qué los chimpancés no han desarrollado un lenguaje propio. Es sumamente increíble verlo desde este punto de vista, habiéndolo leído previamente a través de la pluma de James Watson, familiarizándose con términos como la PCR (reacción en cadena de la polimerasa), o con el SNP (poliformismo de nucleótido único), las proteínas básicas, las cadenas de azúcar y fosfatos que las unen, la secuenciación, la replicación en bacterias, las librerías de interpretación, entre tantas cosas, es increíble y no me imaginé algún día leer sobre estos temas y al menos conocerlos un poco más. Empecé leyendo a Richard Dawkins, sin embargo, la lectura de Watson fue muy prolífica, de tal manera que logró permitir una lectura clara y concisa de los logros realizados por este científico, Svante Pääbo, el mismo que al momento ha aparecido en diversas charlas de TED, en donde muestra claramente su jovial sentido del humor.
Después de historias que relatan el trabajo técnico (para lo cual agradezco mucho la coincidencia de primero haber leído ADN de James Watson), al igual que leer con toques personales toda la travesía de viajes para la obtención de diversas muestras de huesos y demás, el producto final es la revisión de un único artículo para ser publicado en Science o en Nature o en Cell, todo con el fin de aclarar las dudas de la humanidad sobre sus orígenes.
El relato finaliza con la mención del gen FOXP2, el cual se encuentra en el hombre neandertal y no en los chimpancés, y de sobra en el hombre moderno; es el gen que está ligado a la estructura del lenguaje. Por tanto, es muy probable que el hombre neandertal haya contado con una especie de mitos y rituales primitivos a aquellos del hombre moderno, lo cual explica por qué los chimpancés no han desarrollado un lenguaje propio. Es sumamente increíble verlo desde este punto de vista, habiéndolo leído previamente a través de la pluma de James Watson, familiarizándose con términos como la PCR (reacción en cadena de la polimerasa), o con el SNP (poliformismo de nucleótido único), las proteínas básicas, las cadenas de azúcar y fosfatos que las unen, la secuenciación, la replicación en bacterias, las librerías de interpretación, entre tantas cosas, es increíble y no me imaginé algún día leer sobre estos temas y al menos conocerlos un poco más. Empecé leyendo a Richard Dawkins, sin embargo, la lectura de Watson fue muy prolífica, de tal manera que logró permitir una lectura clara y concisa de los logros realizados por este científico, Svante Pääbo, el mismo que al momento ha aparecido en diversas charlas de TED, en donde muestra claramente su jovial sentido del humor.
June 14, 2025
«Неандерталець» СвантеПаабо — книжка, яку написав генетик, що зумів розшифрувати геном неандертальця, отримав Нобелівську премію і перевернув уявлення про еволюцію людини🤯 Кілька фактів з книжки і про неї для вас:
✔️ «Неандертальці не вимерли до ноги. Їхня ДНК досі живе в людях»
Паабо довів, що сучасні люди (поза межами Африки) мають 1–4% неандертальської ДНК (так-так, схоже, ми з вами теж). Це зламало уявлення про «лінійний» розвиток людини. Виявляється, наші предки перетиналися, кохалися й жили поруч з іншими видами гомінідів, а не були їхніми наступниками, як ми всі вчили і школі
Фан-факт: Після виходу статті про це відкриття, Паабо почав отримувати листи від читачів. 46 із 47 були від чоловіків, які стверджували, що вони неандертальці, а 12 жінок написали вченому не тому, що вважали себе неандерталками, а тому що вважали своїх чоловіків неандертальцями😂
✔️ Наука — це хаос, натхнення і багато кави
Паабо чесно розповідає, як часто усе йшло шкереберть: забруднені зразки, невдалі експерименти, «гонка» між командами вчених і як багато залежить від публікації в Science чи Nature
✔️ Ця книжка не тільки про ДНК, а про пошук себе
Паабо пише і про власну історію: відносини з батьком (який теж був Нобелівським лауреатом, але не був частиною його життя), про власну бісексуальність, сім’ю та як увів у колеги дружину, роботу в міжнародних лабораторіях. Це не сухий нонфікшн, а щось дуже особисте — як щоденник великої мандрівки до своєї мрії
✔️ Придумав науку, якої до нього не було
Палеогеноміка — звучить як щось з наукової фантастики, але Паабо її створив з нуля. І саме завдяки йому ми сьогодні можемо дізнаватися про те, що відбувалося 40 000 років тому не з міфів, а з клітин
Не буду лукавити: місцями книжка не легка (де я, а де оте все мтДНК, секвенування та бібліотеки зразків). Але Паабо зробив все, щоб читалося це цікаво і це справді викликає вау. Бо ця історія — не лише про неандертальців. Це історія про нас.
✔️ «Неандертальці не вимерли до ноги. Їхня ДНК досі живе в людях»
Паабо довів, що сучасні люди (поза межами Африки) мають 1–4% неандертальської ДНК (так-так, схоже, ми з вами теж). Це зламало уявлення про «лінійний» розвиток людини. Виявляється, наші предки перетиналися, кохалися й жили поруч з іншими видами гомінідів, а не були їхніми наступниками, як ми всі вчили і школі
Фан-факт: Після виходу статті про це відкриття, Паабо почав отримувати листи від читачів. 46 із 47 були від чоловіків, які стверджували, що вони неандертальці, а 12 жінок написали вченому не тому, що вважали себе неандерталками, а тому що вважали своїх чоловіків неандертальцями😂
✔️ Наука — це хаос, натхнення і багато кави
Паабо чесно розповідає, як часто усе йшло шкереберть: забруднені зразки, невдалі експерименти, «гонка» між командами вчених і як багато залежить від публікації в Science чи Nature
✔️ Ця книжка не тільки про ДНК, а про пошук себе
Паабо пише і про власну історію: відносини з батьком (який теж був Нобелівським лауреатом, але не був частиною його життя), про власну бісексуальність, сім’ю та як увів у колеги дружину, роботу в міжнародних лабораторіях. Це не сухий нонфікшн, а щось дуже особисте — як щоденник великої мандрівки до своєї мрії
✔️ Придумав науку, якої до нього не було
Палеогеноміка — звучить як щось з наукової фантастики, але Паабо її створив з нуля. І саме завдяки йому ми сьогодні можемо дізнаватися про те, що відбувалося 40 000 років тому не з міфів, а з клітин
Не буду лукавити: місцями книжка не легка (де я, а де оте все мтДНК, секвенування та бібліотеки зразків). Але Паабо зробив все, щоб читалося це цікаво і це справді викликає вау. Бо ця історія — не лише про неандертальців. Це історія про нас.
October 8, 2022
Kändes passande att läsa klart denna som jag började i Juni 2020 (måste få skryta). Fortfarande lika bra nu som då, men bra att jag lät den vila för jag fick nog ut mycket mer av den idag än för två år sedan. Lite svårläst men man förstod de viktigaste sakerna och mycket till trots det. Väldigt intressant vad man kan göra med en liten benbit, men det mest intressanta var forskningsmetoderna, hur de utvecklas, hur det är att forska, vilken konkurrens som finns mellan universitet och forskningsgrupper etc. Läsvärd!
November 23, 2017
Can I NOT like this book? Actually, I just returned it... This happens rarely because I try to carefully choose my readings, but this time, I failed. Right from the start, I noticed the rhythm of the author was not good for me (too slow)... When I finished chapter #1, I said to myself I was gonna make the effort and that maybe during chapter 2 things would change. Not so. I made it to chapter 5, but then I could not continue. The moment the author started (chapter #3 I believe...) to speak about his bisexuality, I decided I was not going to learn much about Neanderthals, which was my main interest. My fault. I did not inform myself in advance.
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