Grace Devlin

AP Biology – Article Review

9/25/11

“Australian Aborigine Hair Tells a Story of Human Migration”

This article explained the significance of a lock of hair that was found by a British anthropologist about 100 years ago. It is the hair of an Australian Aborigine, giving scientists their first look at the Aboriginal genome. Nicholas Wade, the author of the article, reports that this genome supports the earlier theory that Aboriginal Australians are the direct descendants of the first humans to leave Africa. The article goes on to review the studies of Dr. Willerslev, an expert in ancient DNA. From the DNA in the Aboriginal genome, he found that their ancestors split away from the first African migration group fairly quickly. It also disproves the idea that Europeans split from Asians, who then went on to form the Aboriginal colonies. The main question left on the table that the DNA cannot solve is where these splits occurred. Another aspect this article explores is the difference in development of the Aborigines because of their genetic isolation. They found that their early tools were unusually primitive compared to the contemporary ones in Europe. They also deduced that around 6,000 years ago, population growth occurred and the domestication of not plants, but dingoes, occurred.

While this article does not introduce life changing information, it does delve into a very interesting topic. A single piece of hair was able to provide scientists with a wealth of information on Australian Aborigines and their ancestors. The amount of data gathered from this single genome is truly remarkable and shows the power of modern day technology. This is article is also important because it clarifies much about the early history of Australia and humans in general. It supports the notion that the ancestors of the Aborigines were of the very first migrations from Africa, a theory that has been in question with many others for a long time. While is does not entirely prove the theory, it gives strong evidence for it. The article also goes into the genetic development of Australians and how it was different due to their isolation. This is important information to study and explore because understanding human history and the past is often the key to the future.

I thought this article was both well written and intriguing. I was surprised to know how much could be learned from a single lock of hair. The data that the author supplied was interesting and the conclusions even more so. What I didn’t like about the article, however, was how it ended. The topic of Aboriginal development and the beginnings of settlements was briefly introduced, but not fully explained. Wade mentioned the domestication of the dingo and the study of that occurrence, but then brought the article to an end. It was rather abrupt and off topic which left me, the reader, slightly unsatisfied. Nevertheless, the article was worth the read.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/23/science/23aborigines.html?_r=1&ref=science