The Real Eve
6.53
Ratings: 6.53/10 from 68
users.
Mitochondrial DNA is passed from mother to children, both male and female, unchanged and it mutates at a predictable rate; i.e., the more the genetic mutations in the DNA, the more ancient the origin of the population.
Using these facts, some scientists are studying mitochondrial DNA to try to trace back the origins of the human race.
Using this method, the scientists have traced the human race to one female in Africa several million years ago. Then they traced the migration patters of her descendants as they spread across the earth.
The Real Eve is a fascinating documentary presenting a new and controversial theory of human evolution. It does what all good documentaries do, it makes you think, and it entertains at the same time.
I watched this doc when it first aired and was having a debate over this. Why do so many people find it so hard to believe? People just need to get over skin tone period it's very sickening to hear or see people argue over race. Even without scientific beliefs and a person wants to go the Christian belief even in Bible it states we all came from one woman "Eve" and for lack of better word all was of one "race". Little insight of my life...I'm a "white" woman from the south that was raised with Christan beliefs. My husband is African American and we have a beautiful child together. With that being said i feel like this doc provided lot info that several people don't wanna agree with for diff reasons either religious point of view which doesn't make sense to me considering what the Bible states (just like the blonde hair blue eye Jesus picture hanging in homes and churches that is WRONG). Or just disagree cause they don't like anyone that's different than them. Sorry just rambling on cause its hard to argue with ignorance on any topic period. So it's pointless to argue with people that don't agree with u regardless if there is proof into your statements. With that being said yes I believe in God and yes I believe we came from one woman and yes I believe this document made great points regardless of Eve skin tone.
Lets do some simple math on a much shorter scale of time. Your ancestors from around 1000 AD are about 25 generations ago. They number of your grandparents double with each generation. At 25 generations you have 33,554,432 grandparents. That is roughly all or more than the entire population of Europe.
Go back 4 or 5 more generations and your ancestors would number the entire world's population. But this is not practical and the reality is that at that point you have only one grandparent for every 10 or more. From that point the ancestor number goes UP and the global population goes down. You rapidly hit the point where there is only one available ancestor for every 1,000 or more on your "family tree".
This is all recent history (a few thousand years) and illustrates some inconvenient truths that cannot be argued as someones "idea" or theory. Its an absolute mathematical fact. . All species are in-bread to one degree or another. We are ALL much more closely related than our modern morality is comfortable with. Add some racism and bigotry to that and people will not admit to the most absolute of truths.
Expand on this several thousand times and you have the truth of humankind.
I found the film very educational and a high probability of truth. But I had already read the supporting articles in National Geographic and other places that fill in more of the details of the science.
This does not mean we all came from the same mother, what it does mean is we all have dna from that mother. I think the makers of this doc missed that point. We are all different, but yet we all share some common dna. I think the most accurate theory yet stats that humans co-evolved in several different areas and crossed dna at some point in this evolution. Modern humans have serveral different ape species encoded in their dna. Asians, middle easterns, and europeans get some of their dna from neanderthals and other extinct ape species. Africas have several genes of unknown orgin from a long lost species of ape. When you look at our genes its amazing how it all came together to form us and now we can almost manipulate our own genes with science. Simply amazing!
now they will take the DNA of Obama and say Americans came from Africans and Africans came from Chimps.Americans are decedents of Chimps.these theories are based on biased experiments and guesses (theory).we need more time and unbiased theories (politically and scientifically).let me ask a question if some scientist say Africans came from chimps and europians are not what will be the reaction.Chinese already have some proof saying that they had evolved separately from others.lets wait for some time before jumping in to conclusion.first do a unbiased scientific study before saying some thing
Fascinating : great docu . thanks
"wit" for with and "gathizz" for gatherers were reasons enough for me to find another documentary.
With 97% of our DNA the same as an oak tree it is only by the remaining 3% that we can classify/devide all races of people, ....cousin!
i luv this thank god mi teacher told me bout dis well back to mi movie review
i believe this was an extraodinary research that is why so many people look alike even if they are not related to each other
How did the original strain of the human animal fail to keep social and technological pace with its offspring? Strange.
This documentary represents an opportunity wasted. It could have told the fascinating story of how genetic techniques, markers, mutation, science, and investigation of mitochondria, made available the mostly non-historic but accurate information about the evolution and spread of humans from Africa around the entire globe. Instead, the genetics was lost in the anthropological and archaeological perspective taken. This was a self-conscious cinematic effort which touched on the science of genetics very little. If you are really interested in how the study of genes made all of the conclusions given here valid, you might want to read "Before the Dawn" by Nicholas Wade who does a marvelous job of telling an engaging an informative story about the inheritance of genetic material and the wealth of information it holds.
@Ivan Sherlock. Thanks for observing the search for our ancestors stops at the American-Mexican border. It shows it's a tipical Gringo-docu: after we have traced our own genetical history, nothing else matters. Like in general: only our own American interests count, no other country's needs matter.
Had DNA , both Paternal and Maternal done last winter and so this is a great source of information for me . The only weakness I can see is when analyzing various groups in the Americas , as the story heads south it stops at around the Mexican border . There is all of Mexico , Central America , and the continent of South America left out of the story .
hey i post something fact but its not there ? dont believe this.i post something.
good doc. oppenheimer does solid science. nice complement to original adam doc.
The program addressed the adaptation of human skin tone to environment. The humans that migrated to the colder climates / less sunlight of the northern latitudes for example, arrived dark but lightened over time until after about 1,000 generations or 20,000 years that skin time became a fixed characteristic of that, one of four, racial groups. But then I could be wrong!
There seems to be a lot or racist remarks posted here. Which is ironic since this documentary seems to suggest that we are all variations of the one. Maybe, its because this idea conflicts with our own personal intolerances.
XipeToltec,
What is your explanation for people in different parts of the world having different skin colors? It makes perfect sense that people in tropical climates would have darker skin to protect them from UV, where we in northern climates have less need of it. It's hard for me to understand why people are so fearful of this whole idea. I am a Christian struggling to balance science and creationism but find a lot of ways that both sides can explain this theory.
I always take scientific theory with a grain of salt because it's just that, theory. But I find the whole idea of Mitochondrial DNA fascinating. Can't wait to get my kit and see where all my "cousins" live!
I don't believe it. Also, skin color isn't determined by the sun. They are trying to force a minimal amount of scientific data to support a theory that it doesn't support.
Wow amazing job, the photographs and history so passionnate.... I am heading to Papua New Guinea soon, cant wait.....
I find this documentary disappointing.
@billclinton3
your statement makes no sense. you contradicted your self. If "we" don't know what the first humans looked like, then how can u declare they were not black.
saying that all people descended from a 'black woman' is false. people did not take on the racial characteristics you see today until they were out of africa. we don't know what the first humans looked like, but they weren't 'black'
@go2mark what youve said is complete BS. read more on the history of mankind. you obviously dont know anything. >.<
@ queenbee ..... "I think it is important to understand how and why bad things happen"
The arabs, the ottomanempire, etc did what they did "for islam". Because they wanted to convert all "infidels", to follow the muslim religion.
The europeans did what they did for sake of domination, power and control. Fuelled by their greed, lack of culture, and spiritual inferiority. They saw black, and brown faces, they saw different ways of life. And so they ignorantly and arrogantly (both seemingly natural traits to the past europeans) declared those people and their cultures to be wrong, beneath them and inhumane. Because they could not understand the concept of differentiation, they did what the europeans today still continue to do. They declared themselves Kings of the world, and unleash hell on anything different.
Anyway, their is no denying that the human race descended from Afica- the motherland. Whether or not one chooses to admit this, it will not make it any less true.
The white people of the past, and the whitepeople of today should not be categorised together, each to his own actions.
Nowadays racism, seems to have been takenover of classism - once again inflicted by the europeans (this includes the americans, who're descendants of past europeans)
It just so happens that the lower class is unanimously made of black and asian people.
Classism--indirectly slavery. Because the white people of today (who still hold their racist ideology's) are smarter and slyer than before.