Did human cannibalism leave its signature in our DNA? The debate is heating up again over that controversial 2003 claim by British researcher Simon Mead. The evidence, he wrote, lies in the gene that produces the prion protein, the one that in its abnormal form causes mad-cow and kuru—a degenerative brain disease that was endemic among cannibals in New Guinea. The gene, and thus the protein, exists in two slightly different forms, which both work equally well in the body. But people who inherit two copies of the same form—either one—are at risk for prion disease, while those with the two different versions are protected. In a paper in Science, Mead argued that the prevalence of these two forms, and a mathematical analysis of other mutations on the same gene, showed there was strong evolutionary pressure for defense against prion disease for much of human history. But how were people exposed to it? The spontaneous form is very rare, and mad-cow outbreaks are an artifact of industrial agriculture. That left cannibalism.

http://www.justpacific.com/fiji/fijiphotos/cards/fijians/cannibals.jpg

From the start, the assertion that cannibalism may have been widespread in human history was controversial among geneticists, although some anthropologists seized on it eagerly. Now a new study of prion genes, to be published this week in Genome Research, disputes Mead's findings. Mead acknowledges some problems with his analysis but stands by his conclusions, and is working on another paper that will contain new evidence. "We're having a hard time finding genes for the things we know are important in human evolution—like language," says Jaume Bertranpetit, a Spanish geneticist who was one of the new study's authors. "But cannibalism? We're not saying it didn't happen, but we'll have to look somewhere else for the evidence."

I bet allthe dark people have cannibalism in their past. Look at chimps. They have been filmed hunting down and eating other chimpanzees. Males especially will kill the young of a rival clan and consume them if the opportunity comes up.

If you're Mogadishu Moe in BC times, and an easy meal of little black drum sticks comes up; what are you to do?

ROFL

"Shake and Bake Niggas"

male Lions of Africa will kill offspring of another male to make the lioness go in heat.

Imagine that in homo sapiens:

I want to bang this MILF and get her preggo.

I kill her kids

eat them

and voila! sperm (made from her kids molecules) are used to fertilize her eggs.

what a novel idea............