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Originally posted by The Explorer:
I'm not aware of any skin pigmentation analysis of the Neanderthals, although, judging from the environment and the biological response of modern humans in the same environment [like say, shortened limb proportions, although in Neanderthals this was more extreme], my guess is that Neanderthals would have been light toned to some degree. These guys were primarily hunter-gatherers, and so, I wouldn't be so quick to assume that they were necessarily as light as northern European folks, who had lightened further as a result of moving away from a primarily meat and fish rich diet to a relatively lower vitamin D grain-rich agricultural diet. Of course, with time, many European nations adopted fortified milk.

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The melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) regulates
pigmentation in humans and other vertebrates. Variants
of MC1R with reduced function are associated with pale
skin color and red hair in humans primarily of European
origin. We amplified and sequenced a fragment of the
MC1R gene (mc1r) from two Neanderthal remains. Both
specimens have a mutation not found in ~3700 modern
humans. Functional analyses show that this variant
reduces MC1R activity to a level that alters hair and/or
skin pigmentation in humans. The impaired activity of
this variant suggests that Neanderthals varied in
pigmentation levels, potentially to the scale observed in
modern humans. Our data suggest that inactive MC1R
variants evolved independently in both modern humans
and Neanderthals.

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Originally posted by Mike111:
Merriam-Webster
Definition of EXPLORER
1
: one that explores; especially : a person who travels in search of geographical or scientific information.

One who ingests spoon-fed nonsense, dressed as science: and than regurgitates it, is not an EXPLORER.

Merriam-Webster doesn't seem to have a word for it, but it's definitely not EXPLORER!

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Originally posted by Quetzalcoatl:

research in support
Carles Lalueza-Fox, et al., 2007 “A Melanocortin 1 Receptor Allele Suggests Varying Pigmentation Among Neanderthals,” www.sciencexpress.org / 25 October 2007 / Page 1 / 10.1126/science.1147417

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The melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) regulates
pigmentation in humans and other vertebrates. Variants
of MC1R with reduced function are associated with pale
skin color and red hair in humans primarily of European
origin. We amplified and sequenced a fragment of the
MC1R gene (mc1r) from two Neanderthal remains. Both
specimens have a mutation not found in ~3700 modern
humans. Functional analyses show that this variant
reduces MC1R activity to a level that alters hair and/or
skin pigmentation in humans. The impaired activity of
this variant suggests that Neanderthals varied in
pigmentation levels, potentially to the scale observed in
modern humans. Our data suggest that inactive MC1R
variants evolved independently in both modern humans
and Neanderthals.

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posted

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Originally posted by The Explorer:

quote:

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Originally posted by Quetzalcoatl:

research in support
Carles Lalueza-Fox, et al., 2007 “A Melanocortin 1 Receptor Allele Suggests Varying Pigmentation Among Neanderthals,” www.sciencexpress.org / 25 October 2007 / Page 1 / 10.1126/science.1147417

quote:

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The melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) regulates
pigmentation in humans and other vertebrates. Variants
of MC1R with reduced function are associated with pale
skin color and red hair in humans primarily of European
origin. We amplified and sequenced a fragment of the
MC1R gene (mc1r) from two Neanderthal remains. Both
specimens have a mutation not found in ~3700 modern
humans. Functional analyses show that this variant
reduces MC1R activity to a level that alters hair and/or
skin pigmentation in humans. The impaired activity of
this variant suggests that Neanderthals varied in
pigmentation levels, potentially to the scale observed in
modern humans. Our data suggest that inactive MC1R
variants evolved independently in both modern humans
and Neanderthals.

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Were the two test subjects European Neanderthal specimens or did it include specimen from some other territory? If the MC1R allele was highly variable in the test subjects from the same geographical region, which would be better demonstrated by tests on more than two subjects, then perhaps this may serve as yet another indication that the allele is not under any particular selective pressure in said group.

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Originally posted by Whatbox:
What does kmrt stand for?

I care.

Is it kick my right testicl or Kmart or what? Kull my red thong?

Anyway who knows. They probably didn't have skin complection like blue monkeys or anything too extreme or far off from our own.

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