Genetics. Y weigh in again on modern humans

Relevant propositions for Y chromosome interpretation

The Y chromosomal haplotype is expected to be identical (or close to, depending on the mutation rate) among a male and many of his paternal relatives. This means that often the same evidential value for the DNA evidence is obtained, whether the true donor or one of his close paternal relatives is compared to a crime sample. Commentators (see for example the UK Forensic Science Regulator or Amorim) have suggested to change the proposition pair to compare the probability of the evidence if the Person of Interest (POI) or one of his close paternal relatives left the DNA to the probability of the evidence if an unrelated male from the population left the DNA. We argue that this is problematic because there is no clear definition of close paternal relatives and truly unrelated males do not exist. Instead, we take a starting point in the traditional proposition pair "The source of the male DNA is the POI" versus "The source of the male DNA is not the POI" and make the latter one operational by suggesting that it is formulated as "The source of the male DNA is a random man from the population". The issue of matching males in the POI's lineage is then addressed either in a comment in the statement or directly through a probability model.

Neandertal demise: an archaeological analysis of the modern human superiority complex

Neandertals are the best-studied of all extinct hominins, with a rich fossil record sampling hundreds of individuals, roughly dating from between 350,000 and 40,000 years ago. Their distinct fossil remains have been retrieved from Portugal in the west to the Altai area in central Asia in the east and from below the waters of the North Sea in the north to a series of caves in Israel in the south. Having thrived in Eurasia for more than 300,000 years, Neandertals vanished from the record around 40,000 years ago, when modern humans entered Europe. Modern humans are usually seen as superior in a wide range of domains, including weaponry and subsistence strategies, which would have led to the demise of Neandertals. This systematic review of the archaeological records of Neandertals and their modern human contemporaries finds no support for such interpretations, as the Neandertal archaeological record is not different enough to explain the demise in terms of inferiority in archaeologically visible domains. Instead, current genetic data suggest that complex processes of interbreeding and assimilation may have been responsible for the disappearance of the specific Neandertal morphology from the fossil record.