"Foreign DNA, Evidence of Ancient Aliens?

Joshua Akey, Ph. D., Associate Professor of Genome Sciences at the University of Washington, has announced a rather spectacular finding in an interview with Linda Moulton Howe, the Emmy winning investigative journalist. In this interview which can be heard at earthfiles.com, he states that he and his associates found common DNA in tribesmen separated by hundreds of miles of inpenetrable African jungle. Five individuals from the Pygmy from Cameroon, the Hadza and Sandawe from the area of Tanzania, all who speak with a click language, had their individual genome run through and analyzed sixty times each. And their conclusive results were that they found what they termed, "foreign DNA" in each of the tribesmen. Akey says that, "the group that we think contributed this foreign DNA to these African populations was much more closely related to anatomically modern humans than Homo erectus. I think it is more appropriate to think of this foreign group as about as different as Neanderthals were to Cro-magnon Home sapiens, sapiens." In this same interview he indicates this DNA was deposited inside this genome 1.8 to 2 millions years in the past. He does not, however, indicate where this "foreign DNA" came from, or to whom it can be attributed, other than to say it most closely resembles modern man.

INTRIGUING TO SAY THE LEAST

So how do we determine who or what deposited this modern DNA into those tribesmen a couple of million years ago? There is nothing in the fossil record, which is not surprising as that record is incomplete in many areas. Unless geographical conditions come together with environmental processes, fossils just don't happen. But having said that, let us put on our thinking caps.

Even a hundred years ago when I was attending college, we were looking for the "missing link." Just what kind of leap did apes take to become men? While we have found fossils of primitive people who are millions of years old, such as Lucy, an Australopithicus who had the brain size of an ape, but walked upright as a human. There is another of this species dated to 4.4 million years ago. But these were not yet humans, in the strictest sense due to improper brain size. However, this species did prove bipedal motion preceded increase in brain size. And as astounding as these fossil finds were, they are still not the answer to that missing link.

HUMAN GENOME A TREASURE CHEST?

Dr. Ackey suggests we'll find this missing link by examining more and more of our human genome genetic history. But if so, has he not already found a major indicator of genetic manipulation in these tribesmen? When presented with this question by Linda, he laughingly replied, "..I think the claim of extraterrestrial manipulation is such a high bar that as a scientist, you have to be skeptical about everything and that just strains the bar of credibility." But Linda pressed him on this by asking if in the future we could determine if there was evidence of ET manipulation of our genetics. This time he said straight out, "I think that's just not a question that comes to mind when we're trying to interpret patterns of variation. So I'm reluctant to say anything else about it." Fine then! I will!

Akey states that this DNA most closely resembles that of modern man. So, did a modern man just suddenly evolve 2 million years ago? I hardly think so, though I often state that anything is possible. But in this instance, I think that would suggest a time traveler or extraterrestrial human being. Perhaps main stream science is unwilling to consider such a possibility, but how can such a thing be ignored? There are numerous well known and respected physicists who believe time travel not only to be possible, but that it is in our future sooner than later. Many believe Einstein's theory allows such a thing, and that it would not go against the theory of everything that they pursue. Granted, Occam's Razor suggests that we look for an easier explanation, but I simply don't see one. How did such DNA appear? The study suggests they will have more information next year after further study. But if they have run these widely varied genomes sixty times each with the same results, how can we not assume an injection from some kind of modern human, or at least our genes, into these primitive creatures? If one wanted to accelerate our evolution for some reason, that would be the way to do it. There are many scientists who believe our race has been manipulated almost constantly through our evolution, and that we are still being manipulated today. I certainly will not say they are wrong, or right for that matter. What I will say is that as of right now, we don't know how this happened. But perhaps these studies of the human genome, and the history contained, will illuminate our understanding of not only our species, but our universe as well.