Earliest modern human skull, Analysing moon rocks, Viruses lurking in our genomes

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 11 July 2019

⏱️ 32 minutes

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Summary

A new study shows that 210,000-year-old skull found in Greece is the earliest evidence for modern humans in Eurasia. A second skull found in the same site is found to be a Neanderthal from 170,000 years ago. These findings suggest that modern humans left Africa earlier and reached further than previously thought. Analysing moon rocks The Apollo missions were scientific explorations, bringing back hundreds of kilograms of moon rock to help us understand the formation of the Moon, the Earth and life itself. We are still studying the rocks that were bought back from between 1969 and 1972. Roland Pease went to the Diamond Light Source Syncotron in Oxfordshire, where scientists are still studying these moon rocks. Viruses lurking in our genomes When it comes to our genomes, there is no such thing as 100% human. Our genetic code is a patchwork of DNA that we have picked up or lost along the way. 8% of our DNA comes from viruses. So what does this mean? Much of the viral DNA is thought to have been involved in forming our immune systems, fighting against pathogenic viruses. But it's not all good news, new work suggests that these human endogenous retroviruses or HERVs might also be the missing causative link in major 'unsolved' neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis [MS], amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease [ALS] and schizophrenia [SCZ]. Presenter: Adam Rutherford Producer: Caroline Steel

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Doleepa, and I'm at your service.
0:04.7	Join me as I serve up personal conversations with my sensational guests.
0:08.8	Do a leap interviews, Tim Cook.
0:11.2	Technology doesn't want to be good or bad.
0:15.0	It's in the hands of the creator.
0:16.7	It's not every day that I have the CEO of the world's biggest company in my living room.
0:20.7	If you're looking at your phone more than you're looking in someone's eyes, you're doing the wrong thing.
0:26.0	Julie, at your service, listen to all episodes on BBC Sales. I'm B. C Sounds, Music Radio Podcasts.
0:36.0	Hello You, this is Inside Science from BBC Radio 4, first broadcast on the 11th of July 2019.
0:41.0	I'm Adam Rutherford. Now this is one of those shows where I am both
0:44.6	in all of new science in human evolution specifically and simultaneously
0:49.3	utterly baffled that we keep making new earth-shaking discoveries. Do you think maybe that scientists could take a year off or so so that we could all catch up?
0:58.0	Anyway, three giant leaps today. First, out of Africa, a staggering 210,000 years ago.
1:04.0	More on that in just a minute.
1:05.0	Then there's the giant leap onto the moon to retrieve some rocks and dust.
1:09.0	It's the gift that just keeps on giving 50 years later.
1:12.0	And jumping into our genomes viruses
1:15.4	have hopped in and out of our DNA and make up some 8% of our genome. Some do nothing,
1:20.6	some are essential for our biology and some get resurrected and may play a role in multiple sclerosis
1:26.6	and other diseases. But first, the ongoing revolution in the story of us is showing no signs
1:32.2	of slowing down, and today we've taken another
1:34.9	giant leap. Homosapians that's us and we are an African species. What that means
	...

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