Who We Are and How We Got Here
Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past
(Sprache: Englisch)
A groundbreaking book about how ancient DNA has profoundly changed our understanding of human history.
Geneticists like David Reich have made astounding advances in the field of genomics, which is proving to be as important as archeology,...
Geneticists like David Reich have made astounding advances in the field of genomics, which is proving to be as important as archeology,...
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A groundbreaking book about how ancient DNA has profoundly changed our understanding of human history.Geneticists like David Reich have made astounding advances in the field of genomics, which is proving to be as important as archeology, linguistics, and written records as a means to understand our ancestry.
In Who We Are and How We Got Here, Reich allows readers to discover how the human genome provides not only all the information a human embryo needs to develop but also the hidden story of our species. Reich delves into how the genomic revolution is transforming our understanding of modern humans and how DNA studies reveal deep inequalities among different populations, between the sexes, and among individuals. Provocatively, Reich s book suggests that there might very well be biological differences among human populations but that these differences are unlikely to conform to common stereotypes.
Drawing upon revolutionary findings and unparalleled scientific studies, Who We Are and How We Got Here is a captivating glimpse into humankind where we came from and what that says about our lives today.
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Part IThe Deep History of Our Species
1
How the Genome Explains Who We Are
The Master Chronicle of Human Variation
To understand why genetics is able to shed light on the human past, it is necessary to understand how the genome defined as the full set of genetic code each of us inherits from our parents records information. James Watson, Francis Crick, Rosalind Franklin, and Maurice Wilkins showed in 1953 that the genome is written out in twin chains of about three billion chemical building blocks (six billion in all) that can be thought of as the letters of an alphabet: A (adenine), C (cytosine), G (guanine), and T (thymine).1 What we call a gene consists of tiny fragments of these chains, typically around one thousand letters long, which are used as templates to assemble the proteins that do most of the work in cells. In between the genes is noncoding DNA, sometimes referred to as junk DNA. The order of the letters can be read by machines that perform chemical reactions on fragments of DNA, releasing flashes of light as the reactions pass along the length of the DNA sequence. The reactions emit a different color for each of the letters A, C, G, and T, so that the sequence of letters can be scanned into a computer by a camera.
Although the great majority of scientists are focused on the biological information that is contained within the genes, there are also occasional differences between DNA sequences. These differences are due to random errors in copying of genomes (known as mutations) that occurred at some point in the past. It is these differences, occurring about one every thousand letters or so in both genes and in junk, that geneticists study to learn about the past. Over the approximately three billion letters, there are typically around three million differences between unrelated genomes. The higher the density of differences separating two genomes on any segment, the longer it has been since the segments
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shared a common ancestor as the mutations accumulate at a more or less constant rate over time. So the density of differences provides a biological stopwatch, a record of how long it has been since key events occurred in the past.
The first startling application of genetics to the study of the past involved mitochondrial DNA. This is a tiny portion of the genome only approximately 1/200,000th of it which is passed down along the maternal line from mother to daughter to granddaughter. In 1987, Allan Wilson and his colleagues sequenced a few hundred letters of mitochondrial DNA from diverse people around the world. By comparing the mutations that were different among these sequences, he and his colleagues were able to reconstruct a family tree of maternal relationships. What they found is that the deepest branch of the tree the branch that left the main trunk earliest is found today only in people of sub-Saharan African ancestry, suggesting that the ancestors of modern humans lived in Africa. In contrast, all non-Africans today descend from a later branch of the tree.2 This finding became an important part of the triumphant synthesis of archaeological and genetic and skeletal evidence that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s for the theory that modern humans descend from ancestors who lived in the last hundred thousand years or so in Africa. Based on the rate at which mutations are known to accumulate, Wilson and his colleagues estimated that the most recent African ancestor of all the branches, Mitochondrial Eve, lived sometime after 200,000 years ago.3 The best current estimate is around 160,000 years ago, although it is important to realize that like most genetic dates, this one is imprecise because of uncertainty about the true rate at which human mutations occur.4
The finding of such a recent common ancestor was exciting because it refu
The first startling application of genetics to the study of the past involved mitochondrial DNA. This is a tiny portion of the genome only approximately 1/200,000th of it which is passed down along the maternal line from mother to daughter to granddaughter. In 1987, Allan Wilson and his colleagues sequenced a few hundred letters of mitochondrial DNA from diverse people around the world. By comparing the mutations that were different among these sequences, he and his colleagues were able to reconstruct a family tree of maternal relationships. What they found is that the deepest branch of the tree the branch that left the main trunk earliest is found today only in people of sub-Saharan African ancestry, suggesting that the ancestors of modern humans lived in Africa. In contrast, all non-Africans today descend from a later branch of the tree.2 This finding became an important part of the triumphant synthesis of archaeological and genetic and skeletal evidence that emerged in the 1980s and 1990s for the theory that modern humans descend from ancestors who lived in the last hundred thousand years or so in Africa. Based on the rate at which mutations are known to accumulate, Wilson and his colleagues estimated that the most recent African ancestor of all the branches, Mitochondrial Eve, lived sometime after 200,000 years ago.3 The best current estimate is around 160,000 years ago, although it is important to realize that like most genetic dates, this one is imprecise because of uncertainty about the true rate at which human mutations occur.4
The finding of such a recent common ancestor was exciting because it refu
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Inhaltsverzeichnis zu „Who We Are and How We Got Here “
Acknowledgments Introduction
Part I The Deep History of Our Species
1 How the Genome Explains Who We Are
2 Encounters with Neanderthals
3 Ancient DNA Opens the Floodgates
Part II How We Got to Where We Are Today
4 Humanity’s Ghosts
5 The Making of Modern Europe
6 The Collision That Formed India
7 In Search of Native American Ancestors
8 The Genomic Origins of East Asians
9 Rejoining Africa to the Human Story
Part III The Disruptive Genome
10 The Genomics of Inequality
11 The Genomics of Race and Identity
12 The Future of Ancient DNA
Notes on the Illustrations
Notes
Index
Autoren-Porträt von David Reich
DAVID REICH, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, is one of the world’s leading pioneers in analyzing ancient human DNA. In a 2015 article in Nature, he was named one of ten people who matter in all of the sciences for his contribution to transforming ancient DNA data "from niche pursuit to industrial process." Awards he has received include the Newcomb Cleveland Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Dan David Prize in the Archaeological and Natural Sciences for his computational discovery of intermixing between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: David Reich
- 2019, 368 Seiten, Maße: 12,8 x 20 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: VINTAGE
- ISBN-10: 1101873469
- ISBN-13: 9781101873465
- Erscheinungsdatum: 30.01.2019
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
Few subjects fascinate us as much as human origins. . . . If you want to understand our origins over the course of the last 100,000 years, this book will be the best up-to-date account for you. Jared Diamond, The New York Times Book Review
"The work in [Reich's] lab has reshaped our understanding of human prehistory. . . . He and his colleagues have shed light on the peopling of the planet and the spread of agriculture, among other momentous events."
Carl Zimmer, The New York Times
"Reich documents an extraordinary moment in the history of science. . . . A potential political bombshell."
The Wall Street Journal
"In Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past, David Reich . . . introduces us to the 21st-century Rosetta Stone: ancient DNA, which will do more for our understanding of prehistory than radiocarbon dating did. . . . Who We Are and How We Got Here is less than 300 pages of text, but it is packed with startling facts and novel revelations that overturn the conventional expectations of both science and common sense.
The National Review
An excerpt from David Reich's new book, Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past, recently touched off a media and cultural firestorm in the United States. Appearing as an op-ed in The New York Times, How Genetics is Changing Our Understanding of Race , it had Reich stating that he is worried that well-meaning people who deny the possibility of substantial biological differences among human populations are digging themselves into an indefensible position, one that will not survive the onslaught of science. This was not unlike tossing a grenade into the public square. But perched at Harvard, as one of his generation's most eminent human population geneticists, Reich will move forward unscathed. The reason is
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simple: Who We Are . . . is mostly not a controversial book, but a wondrous one. It sheds light on the nascent field of ancient DNA, paleogenetics, which is exposing the human past by tracing population histories. Give a paleogeneticist a single genome, and they will unfurl the history of whole peoples.
India Today
"Ancient DNA is rewriting human (and Neanderthal) history. The genomes of the long dead are turning up all sorts of unexpected and controversial findings. Who We Are and How We Got Here, charts the myriad ways the study of ancient DNA is lobbing bombs into the halls of established wisdom."
The Atlantic
"A thrilling account of mapping humans through time and place. . . . Genomics and statistics have drawn back the curtain on the sort of sex and power struggles you d expect in Game of Thrones. . . . We do need a non-loaded way to talk about genetic diversity and similarities in populations. This book goes some way to starting that conversation."
Nature
In this comprehensive and provocative book, David Reich exhumes and examines fundamental questions about our origin and future using powerful evidence from human genetics. What does race mean in 2018? How alike and how unlike are we? What does identity mean? Reich s book is sobering and clear-eyed, and, in equal parts, thrilling and thought provoking. There were times that I had to stand up and clear my thoughts to continue reading this astonishing and important book.
Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies
Reich s book reads like notes from the frontline of the 'Ancient DNA Revolution' with all the spellbinding drama and intrigue that come with such a huge transformation in our understanding of human history."
Anne Wojcicki, CEO and Co-Founder of 23andMe
In just five years, the study of ancient DNA has transformed our understanding of world prehistory. The geneticist David Reich, one of the pioneers in this field, here gives the brilliantly lucid first account of the resulting new view of human origins and of the later dispersals that went on to shape the modern world.
Colin Renfrew, Disney Professor of Archeology Emeritus, University of Cambridge
Reich s magisterial book gives a riveting account of human prehistory and history through the new lens provided by ancient DNA data. The story of human populations, as he shows, is ever one of widespread and repeated mixing, debunking the fiction of pure populations.
Molly Przeworski, Professor of Biological Sciences, Columbia University
This breathtaking book dramatically revises our understanding of the deep history of our species in our African homeland and beyond. Beautifully written, it reads like a detective novel and demonstrates a hard truth that often makes many of us uncomfortable: not only are all human beings mixed, but our intuitive understanding of the evolution of the population structure of the world around us is not to be trusted.
Henry Louis Gates Jr., University Professor, Harvard University, and Executive Producer of Finding Your Roots
This absorbing book will blow you away with its rich and astounding account of where we came from and why that matters. Reich tells the surprising story of how humans got to every corner of the planet, which was revealed only after he and other scientists unlocked the secrets of ancient DNA. The courageous, compassionate, and highly personal climax will transform how you think about the meaning of ancestry and race.
Daniel E. Lieberman, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, and author of The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease
Powerful writing and extraordinary insights animate this endlessly fascinating account, by a world scientific leader, of who we modern humans are and how our ancestors arrived in the diverse corners of the world. I could not put the book down.
Robert Weinberg, Professor of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"David Reich uses the power of modern genome analysis to show the fascinating complexity of human migration and history. By letting the data lead him, he treads a narrow path between racists and xenophobes on one side and left-wing ideologues on the other. Although many of his conclusions will be controversial, he starts a necessary conversation about what modern genome analysis can tell us about the variability of human populations."
Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, Nobel Laureate and President of the Royal Society, London
[Praise from the UK]:
"Remarkable. . . . Spectacular. . . . In making constant new discoveries about humanity, Reich and his Harvard team are now plunging into uncharted academic waters. . . . Reich s influence in this field has been immense and the output of his department monumental. . . . Thrilling in its clarity and its scope."
The Guardian
"David Reich of Harvard Medical School is one of the leading lights in the field of ancient DNA. His team's work has cast a new perspective on human history, reconstructing the epic migrations and genetic exchanges that shaped the people of different regions worldwide."
BBC
"This is a compendious book . . . its importance cannot be overstated and neither can some of its best stories."
Sunday Times
"Who We Are and How We Got Here provides a marvellous synthesis of the field."
Financial Times
India Today
"Ancient DNA is rewriting human (and Neanderthal) history. The genomes of the long dead are turning up all sorts of unexpected and controversial findings. Who We Are and How We Got Here, charts the myriad ways the study of ancient DNA is lobbing bombs into the halls of established wisdom."
The Atlantic
"A thrilling account of mapping humans through time and place. . . . Genomics and statistics have drawn back the curtain on the sort of sex and power struggles you d expect in Game of Thrones. . . . We do need a non-loaded way to talk about genetic diversity and similarities in populations. This book goes some way to starting that conversation."
Nature
In this comprehensive and provocative book, David Reich exhumes and examines fundamental questions about our origin and future using powerful evidence from human genetics. What does race mean in 2018? How alike and how unlike are we? What does identity mean? Reich s book is sobering and clear-eyed, and, in equal parts, thrilling and thought provoking. There were times that I had to stand up and clear my thoughts to continue reading this astonishing and important book.
Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies
Reich s book reads like notes from the frontline of the 'Ancient DNA Revolution' with all the spellbinding drama and intrigue that come with such a huge transformation in our understanding of human history."
Anne Wojcicki, CEO and Co-Founder of 23andMe
In just five years, the study of ancient DNA has transformed our understanding of world prehistory. The geneticist David Reich, one of the pioneers in this field, here gives the brilliantly lucid first account of the resulting new view of human origins and of the later dispersals that went on to shape the modern world.
Colin Renfrew, Disney Professor of Archeology Emeritus, University of Cambridge
Reich s magisterial book gives a riveting account of human prehistory and history through the new lens provided by ancient DNA data. The story of human populations, as he shows, is ever one of widespread and repeated mixing, debunking the fiction of pure populations.
Molly Przeworski, Professor of Biological Sciences, Columbia University
This breathtaking book dramatically revises our understanding of the deep history of our species in our African homeland and beyond. Beautifully written, it reads like a detective novel and demonstrates a hard truth that often makes many of us uncomfortable: not only are all human beings mixed, but our intuitive understanding of the evolution of the population structure of the world around us is not to be trusted.
Henry Louis Gates Jr., University Professor, Harvard University, and Executive Producer of Finding Your Roots
This absorbing book will blow you away with its rich and astounding account of where we came from and why that matters. Reich tells the surprising story of how humans got to every corner of the planet, which was revealed only after he and other scientists unlocked the secrets of ancient DNA. The courageous, compassionate, and highly personal climax will transform how you think about the meaning of ancestry and race.
Daniel E. Lieberman, Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, and author of The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease
Powerful writing and extraordinary insights animate this endlessly fascinating account, by a world scientific leader, of who we modern humans are and how our ancestors arrived in the diverse corners of the world. I could not put the book down.
Robert Weinberg, Professor of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
"David Reich uses the power of modern genome analysis to show the fascinating complexity of human migration and history. By letting the data lead him, he treads a narrow path between racists and xenophobes on one side and left-wing ideologues on the other. Although many of his conclusions will be controversial, he starts a necessary conversation about what modern genome analysis can tell us about the variability of human populations."
Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, Nobel Laureate and President of the Royal Society, London
[Praise from the UK]:
"Remarkable. . . . Spectacular. . . . In making constant new discoveries about humanity, Reich and his Harvard team are now plunging into uncharted academic waters. . . . Reich s influence in this field has been immense and the output of his department monumental. . . . Thrilling in its clarity and its scope."
The Guardian
"David Reich of Harvard Medical School is one of the leading lights in the field of ancient DNA. His team's work has cast a new perspective on human history, reconstructing the epic migrations and genetic exchanges that shaped the people of different regions worldwide."
BBC
"This is a compendious book . . . its importance cannot be overstated and neither can some of its best stories."
Sunday Times
"Who We Are and How We Got Here provides a marvellous synthesis of the field."
Financial Times
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