Scientists are discussing how old our ancestors had children?

A new study shows that in the past 40,000 years of human evolution, the generation interval of humans has fluctuated, which contrasts sharply with people's usual assumptions

Researchers from the University of Aarhus in Denmark and the Max Planck Institute for Anthropological Evolution in Germany used Neanderthal fragments scattered in the non-African genome as molecular clocks to estimate the generation interval between the Eurasian and American populations

The project leader, Professor Mikkel Heide Schierup, said: "This new method of using genomic data allows us to retrieve information about the characteristics of human life hidden in the past, which complements the understanding of our history from archaeology

The research team published a research report on "Nature Communications" on the 7th

"We estimate that the average generation interval between populations is 3 to 5 years different

The results obtained regarding generation intervals are reflected in the accumulation of genetic changes in different parts of the world

"Older parents pass on different mutant genes to their children

The difference in these mutations also allows researchers to sort out whether the change in intergenerational separation is due to the change of the father's reproductive age, the change of the mother's reproductive age, or both

"For example, we see that the fathers of the East Asian population tend to be older than the mothers, while the European populations have fathers and mothers of similar age," Coll Marcià said

So why are the lifespans of generations different in history around the world?

The author speculates that this may be a response to environmental changes

Professor Schierup said: "In the future, we will be able to use the wealth of genome sequences that have appeared rapidly in ancient and modern humans to draw a fine map of human reproductive age changes, which we can associate with environmental and cultural conditions

DOI

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