What They Say About DNA (and Neanderthals)

The big story this week (for us archaeology geeks, anyway) is the latest news concerning the progress in sequencing Neanderthal DNA. It's a complex story, of which my contribution barely scraped the surface. Here's a collection of what folks around the world (uh, in English) are saying about the issues.

First, the traditional media (notice almost every science editor on the planet is getting in their licks, and who we talk to when we talk to scientists about paleontology):

• New Machine Sheds Light on DNA of Neanderthals, from Nicholas Wade in the New York Times, comment by Richard Klein at Stanford and Bruce Lahn at University of Chicago
• Neanderthals have genome chunk sequenced, New Scientist (and via David Beard)
• Neanderthal DNA secrets unlocked, Paul Rincon in BBC News, comment by Chris Stringer (Natural History Museum, London)
• Scientists unravel DNA of 38,000-year-old Neanderthal, Steve Connor in The Independent, comment by Chris Stringer
• Humans almost identical to Neanderthals, Fiona MacRae in The Daily Mail, comment by Chris Stringer and Richard Miller of the University of Michigan
• Neanderthal DNA will help to unlock the secrets of humanity, Mark Henderson in the London Times, with comment by Chris Stringer
• Scientists mapping genetic blueprint of Neanderthals, Dan Vergano, USA Today (comment by Bruce Lahn and blogger John Hawks
• New Methods Let Scientists Analyze Neanderthal DNA, Rick Weiss in Washington Post; comment from Chris Stringer

Now, the blog-o-sphere (are we tired of that term yet or what?), and clearly the flavor is different:

• The first million & 65,250 base pairs of Neanderthal nuclear DNA, Kambiz Kamrani on Anthropology.net
• Neanderthal genes partly decoded, Luboš Motl in the Reference Frame
• Sometimes it seems like we were meant for each other, Sweetney.com
• Researchers begin to decode Neanderthal gene--and guess what?, John C Dvorak in Dvorak Uncensored
• Neanderthal DNA Reconstructed, RCade in the Drudge Retort
• Neanderthal Genome Sequencing Yields Surprising Results, from the Lawrence Berkeley Labs in ScienceBlog

No word yet from the blog of the redoubtable John Hawks, whose server chose to melt down yesterday.