The disaster might not be so "natural". The data says that only a small amount of genetic variation existed within those that passed on their genes. It would not take a volcano to decide who passes on their genes and who doesn't.

An equally valid hypothesis is that there was no environmental change, but that in an otherwise genetically diverse population one small group gained a genetic competitive advantage over other proto-humans and began to multiply wildly, killing off or starving out the rest of the gene pool. It would be interesting to compare the age of the various genes for cognitive ability, speech and socialization to see if any date to the period where these choke points occurred.

I would like to think it was a gene that supported empathy or cooperation that enabled them to out-compete their neighbors, but rather I suspect that a genetic disposition to xenophobia is a more likely culprit...

You are reading the message wrong: we went from edge of extinction to what we are today: a threat to the entire ecosystem. Clearly there must be some secret advantage to springing back from extinction, and if we can do it so can the other guys.

This plainly shows that our real enemies are all those creatures presently on the endangered species list. In the name of all that is holy, I call on you all to go out and hunt down the remaining grey wolves and pandas before they devour us all.

Hey, calm down Matt4077. Stop yelling at the nice slashdotters and I will give you a piece of candy.

Do you long to see the marvels of the Universe on less than 30 Altarian dollars a day?

.... Of course, there are ~10e6 of days travel just between here and Mars, so those Altarian dollars really start to add up....

Next they will be saying that sonic showers cause tinnitus...

Even MORE simpler would be to breed humans not to feel guilt: ethical problem solved.

I used an anecdote once, and it was like TOTALLY reliable. Besides, I read a study in O magazine that said that 4 out of 5 statistics are completely made up.

All the cool planets sort their space debris into convenient rings using the gravitational pulls of small moons. We just need to invest in placing a few in low orbits and they will quickly destabilize anything in orbits not resonant with their own.

Make love to your wife and a robot. It passes if after 5 minutes of intercourse you cannot tell which one faked an orgasm.

After all the arguments over Homosexuality being inborn or a choice, it turns out it is just a work-around to avoid patent infringement!

Why do people keep repeating this over and over? It makes for a great anecdote, but there's a huge logical problem with it. If we fix the systems (customs that let them get in the country in the first place, watchlists, etc.) that allowed the hijackers to get on the place, then that's wonderful. BUT then all they need is a fake ID to bypass those restrictions. Thus, we need a secure ID to implement those changes.