8 ms·

Isn't that around the time of the Homo Sapiens genetic bottleneck?

by optimalsolver 9y ago

baxtr 9y ago
What does that mean?
- keymone 9y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck ?
  - jawilson2 9y ago
    This is the coolest part of that page: "A 2005 study from Rutgers University theorized that the pre-1492 native populations of the Americas are the descendants of only 70 individuals who crossed the land bridge between Asia and North America." https://www.livescience.com/289-north-america-settled-70-people-study-concludes.html https://www.livescience.com/289-north-america-settled-70-peo...
    - keymone 9y ago
      this is even cooler: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve
    - ukaric 9y ago
      You learn everyday this is awesome find.
    - rojobuffalo 9y ago
      That's a disputed claim. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19085.epdf https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19085.epdf
ddalex 9y ago
I'm amazed at this coincidence, too.
- eleitl 9y ago
  It can't have had sufficiently fast impact on Earth by disturbing orbits to create impactors, given the distance.
  - JoeAltmaier 9y ago
    Isn't the article mostly about how it did influence Oort cloud object orbits? Thirty-six identified.
    - stult 9y ago
      It also discusses how there was almost certainly no impact on Earth's surface or our ancestors. Apparently the star was unlikely to even have been visible in the night sky.
      - JoeAltmaier 9y ago
        ...except for the potential Oort object impacts? I'm not sure they discounted that. And further: we can't track the objects that did impact something because, well, they're gone now. Statistics doesn't work well for them.
    - chasing 9y ago
      That's a minuscule number and "influenced" doesn't necessarily mean "aimed them at the Earth." There's a lot of space out there which it takes things a lot of time to move through. It takes the Earth a year to go around the Sun. And the Oort Cloud is, like, 100,000 times further away from the Sun than we are.
      - Raphmedia 9y ago
        Even if you ignore possible asteroid impacts, there's no telling what kind of issues having red dwarf star & its brown dwarf companion so close can create.
saalweachter 9y ago
"However, subsequent research, especially in the 2010s, appeared to refute both the climate argument and the genetic argument." [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck#Toba_catastrophe_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck#Toba_cat...
golergka 9y ago
Even thinking about all the sci-fi plots that could link these events is so exciting. Reminds me of a lot of different stories, from Pern to Chrono Trigger. Too bad that in our dull and rational reality it's just a coincidence.

Isn't that around the time of the Homo Sapiens genetic bottleneck?

baxtr 9y ago

What does that mean?

keymone 9y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck ?
- jawilson2 9y ago
  This is the coolest part of that page: "A 2005 study from Rutgers University theorized that the pre-1492 native populations of the Americas are the descendants of only 70 individuals who crossed the land bridge between Asia and North America." https://www.livescience.com/289-north-america-settled-70-people-study-concludes.html https://www.livescience.com/289-north-america-settled-70-peo...
  - keymone 9y ago
    this is even cooler: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve
  - ukaric 9y ago
    You learn everyday this is awesome find.
  - rojobuffalo 9y ago
    That's a disputed claim. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19085.epdf https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19085.epdf

ddalex 9y ago

I'm amazed at this coincidence, too.

eleitl 9y ago
It can't have had sufficiently fast impact on Earth by disturbing orbits to create impactors, given the distance.
- JoeAltmaier 9y ago
  Isn't the article mostly about how it did influence Oort cloud object orbits? Thirty-six identified.
  - stult 9y ago
    It also discusses how there was almost certainly no impact on Earth's surface or our ancestors. Apparently the star was unlikely to even have been visible in the night sky.
    - JoeAltmaier 9y ago
      ...except for the potential Oort object impacts? I'm not sure they discounted that. And further: we can't track the objects that did impact something because, well, they're gone now. Statistics doesn't work well for them.
  - chasing 9y ago
    That's a minuscule number and "influenced" doesn't necessarily mean "aimed them at the Earth." There's a lot of space out there which it takes things a lot of time to move through. It takes the Earth a year to go around the Sun. And the Oort Cloud is, like, 100,000 times further away from the Sun than we are.
    - Raphmedia 9y ago
      Even if you ignore possible asteroid impacts, there's no telling what kind of issues having red dwarf star & its brown dwarf companion so close can create.

saalweachter 9y ago

"However, subsequent research, especially in the 2010s, appeared to refute both the climate argument and the genetic argument." [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck#Toba_catastrophe_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck#Toba_cat...

golergka 9y ago

Even thinking about all the sci-fi plots that could link these events is so exciting. Reminds me of a lot of different stories, from Pern to Chrono Trigger. Too bad that in our dull and rational reality it's just a coincidence.