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> All the world has less genetic variation, than that between any two populations in Africa. I guess this is just a flight of poesy, but it seems like a litera

by JadeNB 7y ago

> All the world has less genetic variation, than that between any two populations in Africa. I guess this is just a flight of poesy, but it seems like a literally impossible statement.

SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago
I think it's possible if it's actually "All _the rest of_ the world has less genetic variation, than that between any two populations in Africa." I don't know if that's true, but it's true that Africans have more genetic variation than anyone else on Earth. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/30502963/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/africans-have-worlds-greatest-genetic-variation/ http://www.nbcnews.com/id/30502963/ns/technology_and_science... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4067985/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4067985/ > most genetic variation in non-African populations is a subset of the variation found in African populations https://www.ashg.org/education/pdf/geneticvariation.pdf https://www.ashg.org/education/pdf/geneticvariation.pdf > Larger Genetic Differences Within Africans Than Between Africans and Eurasians https://www.genetics.org/content/161/1/269 https://www.genetics.org/content/161/1/269
thrower123 7y ago
We can thank the ubiquitous Mercator projection for us having no idea how big Africa actually is. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/africa-is-way-bigger-than-you-think/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/africa-is-...
- carapace 7y ago
  World map of human migrations on a Dymaxion projection (no visible distortion of landmass size/shape.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_map_of_prehistoric_human_migrations.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_map_of_prehistoric_...
- JadeNB 7y ago
  My issue wasn't with the size of Africa (though I have seen that visualisation before, and find it startling as intended), but with the fact that Africa, huge as it is, is part of the world, so that its genetic diversity is part of the world's.
jjtheblunt 7y ago
Yes, its wording is not quite right.
- jjtheblunt 7y ago
  In particular, the assertion I knew from working in human genomics was that, if one were to choose two distinct populations A and B, with the greatest diversity between the populations available on the planet, then both A and B would occur in Africa.

by JadeNB 7y ago

> All the world has less genetic variation, than that between any two populations in Africa. I guess this is just a flight of poesy, but it seems like a literally impossible statement.

SideburnsOfDoom 7y ago

I think it's possible if it's actually "All _the rest of_ the world has less genetic variation, than that between any two populations in Africa." I don't know if that's true, but it's true that Africans have more genetic variation than anyone else on Earth. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/30502963/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/africans-have-worlds-greatest-genetic-variation/ http://www.nbcnews.com/id/30502963/ns/technology_and_science... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4067985/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4067985/ > most genetic variation in non-African populations is a subset of the variation found in African populations https://www.ashg.org/education/pdf/geneticvariation.pdf https://www.ashg.org/education/pdf/geneticvariation.pdf > Larger Genetic Differences Within Africans Than Between Africans and Eurasians https://www.genetics.org/content/161/1/269 https://www.genetics.org/content/161/1/269

thrower123 7y ago

We can thank the ubiquitous Mercator projection for us having no idea how big Africa actually is. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/africa-is-way-bigger-than-you-think/ https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/africa-is-...

carapace 7y ago
World map of human migrations on a Dymaxion projection (no visible distortion of landmass size/shape.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_map_of_prehistoric_human_migrations.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:World_map_of_prehistoric_...
JadeNB 7y ago
My issue wasn't with the size of Africa (though I have seen that visualisation before, and find it startling as intended), but with the fact that Africa, huge as it is, is part of the world, so that its genetic diversity is part of the world's.

jjtheblunt 7y ago

Yes, its wording is not quite right.

jjtheblunt 7y ago
In particular, the assertion I knew from working in human genomics was that, if one were to choose two distinct populations A and B, with the greatest diversity between the populations available on the planet, then both A and B would occur in Africa.