Army Public College of Management & Sciences, Rawalpindi

Social SciencesTopic: Human Origins

PRESENTED TO: Prof. Col (Retd.) Javed Rushdi

PRESENTED BY:1. Zeeshan Sajid F-36572. Salman Salah ud Din F-36793. Muhammad Shiraz Habib F-36804. Faizan Ahmed F-3700

BSC (EE) 13B

Human Origins

• The Origin of the Human Species • Darwin and the Theory of Evolution • Recent Developments in Genetics • Some Implications of Recent Developments

THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN SPECIES

• Islamic Concept• Modern or Scientific Concept

THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN SPECIES• Human evolution is the lengthy process of change by which people

originated from apelike ancestors. Scientific evidence shows that the physical and behavioral traits shared by all people originated from apelike ancestors and evolved over a period of approximately six million years.

• One of the earliest defining human traits, bipedalism -- the ability to walk on two legs -- evolved over 4 million years ago.

• Humans are primates. Physical and genetic similarities show that the modern humanspecies, Homo sapiens, has a very close relationship to another group of primate species, the apes

• Humans first evolved in Africa, and much of human evolution occurred on that continent. The fossils of early humans who lived between 6 and 2 million years ago come entirely from Africa.

Human Species Family Tree

THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN SPECIES• Most scientists currently recognize some 15 to 20 different

species of early humans. Scientists do not all agree, however, about how these species are related or which ones simply died out.

• Early humans first migrated out of Africa into Asia probably between 2 million and 1.8 million years ago. They entered Europe somewhat later, between 1.5 million and 1 million years. Species of modern humans populated many parts of the world much later.

Darwin Theory of Evolution• Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by

Charles Darwin and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.

• First formulated in Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species" in 1859.

• The theory is sometimes described as "survival of the fittest," but that can be misleading. Here, "fitness" refers not to an organism's strength or athletic ability, but rather the ability to survive and reproduce.

NATURAL SELECTION• Natural selection can change a species in small ways, causing a population to change

color or size over the course of several generations. This is called "microevolution.“• Given enough time and enough accumulated changes, natural selection can create

entirely new species, known as "macroevolution." It can turn dinosaurs into birds, amphibious mammals into whales and the ancestors of apes into humans.

• Darwin also described a form of natural selection that depends on an organism's success at attracting a mate, a process known as sexual selection. The colorful plumage of peacocks and the antlers of male deer are both examples of traits that evolved under this type of selection.

• But Darwin wasn't the first or only scientist to develop a theory of evolution. The French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck came up with the idea that an organism could pass on traits to its offspring, though he was wrong about some of the details. And around the same time as Darwin, British biologist Alfred Russel Wallace independently came up with the theory of evolution by natural selection.

NATURAL SELECTION

Recent Development in Genetics

The Human Genome Project (HGP) was the international, collaborative research program whose goal was the complete mapping and understanding of all the genes of human beings. All our genes together are known as our "genome.“

Human genome project• The Human Genome Project

started in 1990 and ended in 2003.

• It was coordinated by the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health.

• The HGP aims to: identify all 20,000 to 25,000 genes in human DNA, determine sequence of 3 billion chemical base pairs of DNA, store information in databases, address the ELSI (ethical, legal, and social implications).

Achievements• The sequencing of the human DNA sequence was completed in

the spring of 2003.• 99% of the gene-containing section of the human genome

sequence was completed, to accuracy of 99.99%, in April of 2003.• 3.7 million human SNP (single-nucleotide polymorphism – DNA

sequence variation in a single nucleotide) was mapped in February of 2003.

• The genome sequences of E. coli, S. cerevisiae, D. melanogaster, and C. elegans were finished in April of 2003.

• The whole-genome drafts of the mouse and the rat was finished in April of 2003.

• Identify potential suspects through DNA evidence

• Exonerate those wrongly convicted by providing DNA evidence

• Settle questions of paternity and other family relationships

• Identify endangered and protected species

• Detect pollutants in water, soil, air, and food

• Match organ donors with recipients• Authenticate consumables, like caviar

and wine

Forensics

Molecular medicine

• Improve upon gene therapy (insertion or alteration of genes to treat disease)

• Develop methods of earlier detection of genetic mutation and susceptibility to diseases

• Design drugs to act as activators or inhibitors of functions of different proteins to prevent diseases (rational drug design)

• Improve diagnosis of different diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, schizophrenia, and cancer

• Reduce and treat genetic diseases, like hemochromatosis, phenlyketonuria, and hypercholesterolemia

Implications

Implications• Improve in assessment of health

damage by radiation exposure• Improve in assessment of damage

caused by exposure to mutagenic chemicals and carcinogenic toxins

• Study evolution through germline mutations

• Study migration of specific groups based on female genetic inheritance

• Study Y chromosome and mutations