New Gene Research: A Single-Couple Human Origin is Possible

On this episode of ID the Future, biologist Ann Gauger talks with host Andrew McDiarmid about new research challenging the common claim that the field of population genetics rules out a single-couple human origin. She and Stockholm University statistical mathematician Ola Hössjer have just published a paper in the journal BIO-Complexity modeling the scenario using a newly developed computer algorithm. The results, Gauger says, show that the genetic data does not rule out Adam and Eve.

Their results are not proof, she emphasizes, just possibility; and different assumptions could produce different estimates as to when such a first human couple lived. See more on the backstory at Evolution News. Gauger and Hössjer are also building a site with additional information. It’s still being fleshed out but already contains a page with animations to help explain their new model.