Fossil human traces line to modern Asians

The person shared a common origin with the ancestors of modern Asians

Researchers have been able to trace a line between some of the earliest modern humans to settle in China and people living in the region today.

The evidence comes from DNA extracted from a 40,000-year-old leg bone found in a cave near Beijing.

Results show that the person it belonged to was related to the ancestors of present-day Asians and Native Americans.

The results are published in the journal PNAS.

Humans who looked broadly like present-day people started to appear in the fossil record of Eurasia between 40,000 and 50,000 years ago.

But many questions remain about the genetic relationships between these early modern humans and present-day Homo sapiens populations.

For example, some evidence hints at extensive migration into Europe after the last Ice Age.

And fossil finds from Red Deer Cave, also in China, and Iwo Eleru in Nigeria point to a hitherto unappreciated diversity among Late Pleistocene humans.

New technique

The team managed to extract genetic material from an ancient leg bone found in 2003 at the site of Tianyuan Cave outside Beijing.

They managed to extract the type of DNA found in the nuclei of cells (nuclear DNA) and genetic material from the cell's "powerhouses" - known as mitochondria.

They used new techniques that can identify ancient genetic information from an archaeological find, even when large amounts of DNA from soil bacteria are also present.

Analysis of the person's DNA showed that they were related to the ancestors of present-day Asians and Native Americans. But the analysis showed that this individual had already diverged from the ancestors of present-day Europeans.

The fossils were discovered in 2003 at Tianyuan near Beijing

"More analyses of additional early modern humans across Eurasia will further refine our understanding of when and how modern humans spread across Europe and Asia", said co-author Svante Pääbo, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

Research in the last few years has shown that early modern humans interbred with ancient human species such as the Neanderthals and Denisovans as they migrated from Africa and settled across the world.

Around 40,000 years ago, the Neanderthals and Denisovans were being replaced by Homo sapiens. Genetic studies of people living at this important crossover period could help scientists understand when and how this interbreeding took place.

The researchers found that the person from Tianyuan cave carried about the same proportion of Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA as people in the region today.

How It Should Have Ended : How The Dark Knight Rises Should Have End

HOBBIT anime

The Joy Formidable prove that having stadium-sized ambitions needn’t neuter originality.

Wolf’s Law suggests that, however hefty a burden is placed upon our bones, they’ll adjust accordingly to support the load.

And it’s unsurprising that The Joy Formidable have become keen enough believers in the theorem to appropriate it for the title of their second album. If 2011 debut The Big Roar had them pegged as promotion-pushers to rock’s big leagues, patronage from Dave Grohland support slots with Muse last year must have placed a stadium-sized weight on their skeletons.

Little wonder, then, that Wolf’s Law often finds frontwoman Ritzy Bryan in the midst of existential crisis or bouts of introspective soul-searching. “Let’s sit and talk and slow things down / Just be our old selves again finally,” she pleads on opener This Ladder Is Ours. But for all the talk of hankering for safer past climes, there’s scant nervousness to be found in the orchestration: gorgeously classy strings take on the slightest of nightmarish hues, before a whiplash of riffs comes crashing down.

It’s this tightrope between bruised self-doubt and fun blasts of noise that gives Wolf’s Law its emotional heft; a seesaw of seeking salvation and receiving it courtesy of cathartic anthems. Cholla sees Bryan ask, “What are we doing? Where are we going?” But the boisterous thwack ’n’ thrash turns the chorus into something euphoric rather than moribund.

On Bats, her fretting of “I had a reason, but the reason went away” is given a shot of adrenaline by the bonkers, snot-nosed backing. And while Tendons postures as a love song, it’s as sleazy as it is starry-eyed due to its scuzzy, positively filthy bassline.

Odd spots see them descend into tedium, such as the anaemic balladry of Silent Treatment. But the genuinely bonkers Maw Maw Song is so brilliant that other dreary transgressions can be forgiven. It’s a meandering beast that encompasses Led Zeppelin-shaped wig-outs, prog-rock detours and a gloriously dumb chorus while Bryan shrieks like a rock priestess over the course of seven minutes.

Said track’s a testament to The Joy Formidable’s conviction that having stadium-sized ambitions doesn’t have to neuter your originality. Whatever’s thrown at them next, their bones are unlikely to buckle under the pressure.

Beyonce, Fun and Glee on Obama's inauguration playlist

Beyonce will perform at Super Bowl 47 in N

The 16-track playlist also includes John Legend's Ordinary People and the cast of Glee covering Lady Gaga.

Obama released the official list - some of his favourite music - on the digital music service Spotify.

The artists will all perform at different inaugural events, which start Saturday in Washington DC.

Obama's list also includes Firework by Katy Perry and James Taylor's Your Smiling Face.

Other artists include Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Usher, Smokey Robinson, Brad Paisley and Kelly Clarkson.

Beyonce previously performed at one of Obama's inauguration balls four years ago, singing Etta James's At Last while Obama and his wife Michelle had their first dance.

She will sing the US national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, at this year's inauguration ceremony on Monday.

Clarkson will perform My Country Tis of Thee and Taylor will give his rendition of America the Beautiful.

Wonder, Usher and Taylor were also involved in Obama's inauguration in 2009, having contributed to his inaugural committee CD, Change Is Now: Renewing America's Promise.

It was released in April 2009 and also included tracks by Will.i.am, Wilco and Jennifer Hudson.

Jennifer Hudson Reveals Fiance David Otunga’s New Nickname

Jennifer Hudson’s fiance, David Otunga, is joining the family business – heading into feature films in “The Call,” and the Oscar-winning actress said Hollywood should look out.

“We call him ‘Curtains,’ because when he got the role he was like, ‘Curtains for everybody!’” Jennifer told Access Hollywood as she promoted her upcoming film, “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete,” at the Sundance Film Festival, in Park City, Utah, on Thursday night.

“He’s so excited,” she continued of WWE star David’s new role. “I can’t wait to see the film… He’s super excited about the project coming out and he got to play an officer in ‘The Call.’ I just got to see the preview for it… Look out, curtains for everybody!”

Jennifer will follow up her Sundance trip with one to Washington, D.C., where she confirmed she’ll performer as part of President Barack Obama’s second inauguration.

The Grammy winner revealed she will be singing, “Let’s Stay Together” at the Inauguration Ball.

“I’m getting it ready,” she said. “It’s Obama – [it’s] one of his favorite songs,” she said.

James Franco To Direct And Star In Film About 60s Hair Stylist And Manson Family Victim Jay Sebring

James Franco has one seriously strange career, and to understand why all you have to do is look at the movies that he has coming out this year. There's the hard-R rated comedy This Is The End, the Disney movie Oz The Great And Powerful, the porn biopic Lovelace, the girls-with-guns thriller Spring Breakers...and that's only part of the list. As the years pass Franco gets busier and busier with weirder and weirder projects, and that continues today with the news that he is making a movie about one of the most famous hair stylists in Hollywood during the 1960s and his tragic death.

Deadline is reporting that Franco is now set to both direct and star in Beautiful People, a new project about Jay Sebring. The film will chronicle the stylist's rise as a "self-created men’s grooming pioneer" and follow through to his early death at the hands of Charles Manson and the Manson family. The site notes that Sebring had a romantic relationship with Sharon Tate, who also notably died during the Manson spree.

The news comes out of Sundance where the actor/director has three movies debuting, Interior. Leather Bar, the documentary Kink, and the aforementioned Lovelace (are you seeing a theme?). Both Oz The Great And Powerful and Spring Breakers will be getting March releases while he also has The Iceman, the Slyvester Stallone-scripted Homefront and a number of other titles set to come out in the coming months. I'd honestly be amazed if even he could keep track of all the movies he has coming out in 2013.