BBC Focus Magazine

[Shadowwolf]

Roughly 100,000 years ago, human evolution reached a mysterious bottleneck: Our ancestors had been reduced to perhaps five to ten thousand individuals living in Africa. In time, "behaviorally modern" humans would emerge from this population, expanding dramatically in both number and range, and replacing all other co-existing evolutionary cousins, such as the Neanderthals.

The cause of the bottleneck remains unsolved, with proposed answers ranging from gene mutations to cultural developments like language to climate-altering events, among them a massive volcanic eruption.

Add another possible factor: infectious disease.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120604155554.htm

[M Paul Lloyd]

Interesting and, it makes me wonder if we might not face such a dillema again one day?