15 May 2010 | NewScientist | 3

WE HUMANS like to see ourselves as special, at the very pinnacle of all life. That makes us keen to keep a safe distance between ourselves and related species that threaten our sense of uniqueness. Unfortunately, the evidence can sometimes make that difficult.

Decades ago, when the primatologist Jane Goodall told anthropologist Louis Leakey that chimps used sticks to scoop up termites, he wrote: “Now we must redefine tool, redefine man or accept chimpanzees as human.” The news this month that humans and Neanderthals interbred (see page 8) presents us with a similar conundrum – only this one lies far closer to home. Must we now consider Neanderthals as one of our own, another twig on the branch called Homo sapiens?

Svante Pääbo, the pioneer of palaeogenetics, equivocated when a reporter asked whether his genome study suggested Neanderthals are the same species as us: “I would more see them as a form of humans that were a bit more different than people are from each other today, but not that much.”

Why so shy? Putting aside the vexing question of what defines a species – which flummoxed even Linnaeus and Darwin – it is hard to see why Neanderthals should now be considered as anything other than

Welcome to the human family

EDITORIAL

Homo sapiens. We know that Neanderthals bred with our ancestors and produced fertile offspring, which is one hallmark of a species. And there is plenty more evidence to support giving them the status of Homo sapiens neanderthalis.

Neanderthals shared a common ancestor with modern humans around 500,000 years ago. Its descendants went their separate ways as the Neanderthals adapted to colder climes, but then, at least 50,000 years ago, they resumed relations in the eastern Mediterranean, where the two populations met again. This pattern wouldn’t necessarily

merit separate species status for most animals, so why for us and Neanderthals?

There is, of course, more to the concept of being human than ecology and genetics: we are human because we think, talk, love and believe. It is impossible to know the mental life of a Neanderthal, but there is reason to think that it was not so different from our own. The Neanderthal genome differed little from ours, encoding fewer than 100 changes that would affect the shape of proteins.

True, some of these differences occur in genes linked to brain function, but similar variation is found among humans today. Moreover, Neanderthals share with us a version of a gene linked to the evolution of speech, and recent archaeological evidence suggests that their minds were capable of the symbolic representations that underlie language and art. If that’s not human, then what is? n

Is there any reason not to allow Neanderthals into the fold with Homo sapiens?

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THE oil industry is in dangerous waters. In 2007, one-third of all crude oil came from offshore sources, according to the International Energy Agency. Last week saw a find off the Falkland Islands – in waters three times as deep as the source of the ongoing Gulf of Mexico spill – and it is clear that rigs will increasingly operate in abyssal marine environments.

Yet the oil industry has been complacent about the risks of deep-water drilling (see page 20). To focus minds, White House officials and Democratic lawmakers in Congress are seeking to raise the cap on liabilities from $75 million to $10 billion. Such a stringent requirement is welcome. But to keep oil companies from moving to less-regulated waters, the principle of “polluter pays” should be applied to deep-water drilling worldwide. n

When the oil industry stares into the abyss

Ditch the omega-3sOUR appetite for “miracle” foods is insatiable – and food companies know it. That is why everything from bread to yoghurt now comes with added omega-3 fatty acids. These molecules are said to prevent heart disease, dementia, depression and cancer, and even make our kids brainier. Too good to be true? Sadly, yes. As the evidence piles up, their feted health benefits are melting away (see page 32). Like every other so-called superfood, claims about omega-3s need to be taken with a big pinch of salt. n

ª We cannot know the mental life of a Neanderthal, but it may not have been so different from our own”

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