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07/21/2007: "Out of Africa theory still being debated"

However, John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison says the paper is "mistaken." A major flaw is that the current research is largely based on skull variability. "You can't find the origin of people by measuring the variability of their skulls," Hawks told LiveScience.

Differences in skull features are related to genetics, and genetic variation depends on how much mixing occurs with other populations. "The main problem with the paper is that it takes some assumptions from genetics papers of 10 to 15 years ago that we now know are wrong," Hawks said.

[ We've been saying something similar for years: it's impossible to distinguish mixture from evolution when looking back through the genetic log, although corroborative factors can help. However, doesn't all of this miss the point? We've evolved in different ways since then and it's essential we preserve and understand those. This, like most modern arguments, is symbolic and not literal: we want to feel symbolic unity if we all came from Africa, nevermind those 1.6 million intervening years, or we want to feel disunity and a different origin from Africans. Neither is good science or good rational response. ]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070718/sc_livescience/scientisthumanoriginimpossibletopinpoint