[OT] Short sci-fi story: The Lifeboat

[Baron Munchausen]

Originally posted by dogscoff:
Very interesting link TC. Kind of makes you wonder, what did all that genetic diversty look like before the near-extinction. Or to put it differently, what would humans look like now if all those lost genes had survived into the present? Would there be whole new ethnic Groups? Blue skin and purple hair? Cow-print colouring with elephant ears? Who can say for sure?

I rememebr a while back they found some 5-thousand year old preserved corpse in a glacier of a peat-bog or something and found that (somehow) it had viable sperm. Maybe this is all urban myth but apparently hundreds of womed were queueing up to get impregnated by this fossil, and the scientists refused them all on ethical grounds. Quite rightly so, I might add- imagine going through school with that stigma hanging over your head "Hey Cave-boy, where's your Daddy?" Not to mention the Scott Evil complex- "I wish I'd never been artificially created in a lab."
However it would be incredibly interesting to see the results. The temptation on those scientists- the curiosity must have been quite something to resist.

Gack! You are actually reading those tabloid magazines in the supermarket or something? There are all sorts of crazy 'urban legends' about Oetzi the iceman, found in the Alps between Austria and Italy. You can easily find out the truth by Googling on 'Oetzi':

http://www.crystalinks.com/oetzi.html

BTW, genetic testing shows that Oetzi is in fact related to the current inhabitants of the area.