Homo
Sapiens (Human)

human beings, are bipedal primates belonging to the mammalian species
Homo sapiens (Latin: "wise man" or "knowing man")
in the family Hominidae (the great apes). Compared to other living organisms
on Earth, humans have a highly developed brain capable of abstract reasoning,
language, and introspection. This mental capability, combined with an
erect body carriage that frees their upper limbs for manipulating objects,
has allowed humans to make far greater use of tools than any other species.
Humans originated in Africa about 200,000 years ago, but they now inhabit
every continent, with a total population of over 6.6 billion as of 2007.
Like most primates, humans are social by nature; however, humans are
particularly adept at utilizing systems of communication for self-expression,
the exchange of ideas, and organization. Humans create complex social
structures composed of cooperating and competing groups, ranging in
scale from small families and partnerships to species-wide political,
scientific and economic unions. Social interactions between humans have
also established an extremely wide variety of traditions, rituals, ethics,
values, social norms, and laws which form the basis of human society.
Humans also have a marked appreciation for beauty and aesthetics which,
combined with the human desire for self-expression, has led to cultural
innovations such as art, literature and music.
Humans are also noted for their desire to understand and influence the
world around them, seeking to explain and manipulate natural phenomena
through science, philosophy, mythology and religion. This natural curiosity
has led to the development of advanced tools and skills; humans are
the only known species to build fires, cook their food, clothe themselves,
and use numerous other technologies.
Most researchers currently accept the statement that "modern"
humans can be considered to date to approximately 200-250 kyr. Others
(such as Milford Wolpoff), take the view that our species extends as
far as approximately 2.0 myr, subsuming H. erectus, H. ergaster, and
H. heidelbergensis. There are two polarizing camps on the issue of our
species origin (though there is varying degrees of compromise between
the two stances as well as various alternative positions): the multiregional
(or continuity) camp, and the Out of Africa (replacement) camp.
The perspective of multiregionalists is that extending to the origin
of H. erectus, there have been populations of humans living around the
old world, and these all contributed to successive generations, eventually
leading to modern humans. In this scenario, the Chinese and Indonesian
material are the most direct ancestors of modern East Asians, the African
material are the most direct ancestors of modern Africans, and that
either the European populations are the most direct ancestors of modern
Europeans, or that the European populations contributed significant
genetic material to modern Europeans, with most of modern Europeans
origins rooted in Africa or West Asia. Adherents to this model look
at early material and try to trace continuity in morphology from those
early populations to later populations in the same geographic area.
In this model, there are paralleled changes in all penecontemporary
populations, with enough genetic migration to maintain close species
bonds, while still allowing the suite of racial features we see today.
The perspective of the Out of Africa model (often called Out of Africa
II, referring to a second migration from Africa of a hominid population)
adherents is that when there was a migration of H. erectus out of Africa
into Asia and Europe, these populations (seen in materials like the
Chinese and Indonesian erectus) did not contribute a significant amount
of genetic material to later populations that led to modern humans (some
claim no genetic ancestry to these groups and their descendants at all,
a "strict" replacement model). At approximately 200 kya there
was a second migration of hominids out of Africa. This time it was fully
modern H. sapiens, which proceeded to replace whatever populations that
then occupied Asia and Europe. Some see direct competition and extermination
of the native populations, some see passive replacement due to better
adaptive strategies, and some see genetic admixture with the preponderance
of genetic material coming from the incoming human populations, eventually
replacing and assimilating them into the greater collective. In this
view there is a specific speciation event that occurred which led to
the origin of H. sapiens in Africa, and this population is the forerunner
of modern humans, leaving the European Neanderthals, Chinese erectus,
and others out in the cold.
There are various models which embody combinations of these ideas, different
"strict" interpretations of the two theories, etc. Multiregionalists
look for similarities between populations in the same geographic location
that are separated spatially, while people who follow replacement look
for differences. It is oft a difference of semantics between different
interpretations rather than real differences of opinion, but often there
is real disagreement on the validity of research, and theoretical interpretations.
This has led to some fairly severe strife within the paleoanthropological
community, with potshots often taken unfairly at rival theories and
rival theoreticians. For example, multiregionalism is often portrayed
as a racist theory that claims different "races" have evolved
to different "levels" of intelligence. Out of Africa II has
often been portrayed as a religiously motivated idea that tries to come
to terms with the biblical story of Genesis, as reference to the "Eve"
theory suggests.
Beyond disagreement over fundamental issues like "What is a valid
speciation event?" one fact stands out: neither theory has proved
itself above the other in terms of parsimonious explanation of the fossil
evidence. The general opinion among researchers seems to go in cycles,
supporting OoA, then supporting MRE, then supporting OoA, etc. Currently,
we seem to be at a cusp of support for replacement, and there seems
top be a shifting in opinion more favorable to continuity. The highly
publicized genetic studies that purportedly "proved" that
Neanderthals did not contribute the modern human genome are so plagued
with practical and theoretical problems to make their conclusions moot,
especially since it does not in any way address the rest of the populations
in the world, and their genetic fate.
Humans are an eukaryotic species. Each diploid cell has two sets of
23 chromosomes, each set received from one parent. There are 22 pairs
of autosomes and one pair of sex chromosomes. By present estimates,
humans have approximately 20,000 - 25,000 genes. Like other mammals,
humans have an XY sex-determination system, so that females have the
sex chromosomes XX and males have XY. The X chromosome is larger and
carries many genes not on the Y chromosome, which means that recessive
diseases associated with X-linked genes, such as hemophilia, affect
men more often than women.
It is found that, 76 genes involved in cell cycle of Homo Sapiens .
When we go to find the information about these genes, we found molecular
information for 73 gene in Homo Sapiens.