Many are looking at 2012 as some sort of countdown to extinction. Others say extinction is near impossible given the modern day scientific knowledge that we possess: as though science were god. When we look back at history though we see massive animal extinction and a couple of occasions wherein mankind as we know it was nearly wiped off the face of the earth.
Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests.
The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought and other causes as a result of the Toba supervolcanic eruption that send our planet into it’s last ice age.
A recent report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age. “This study illustrates the extraordinary power of genetics to reveal insights into some of the key events in our species’ history,” Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer in residence, said in a statement.
“Tiny bands of early humans, forced apart by harsh environmental conditions, coming back from the brink to reunite and populate the world,” he added. “Truly an epic drama, written in our DNA.”
Previous studies using mitochondrial DNA — which is passed down through mothers — have shown that all modern humans share one female ancestor (out of thousands), the “mitochondrial Eve,” who lived in Africa about 200,000 years ago. What’s that do for you Adam & Eve story? 
The migrations of humans out of Africa to populate the rest of the world appear to have begun about 60,000 years ago, but little has been known about humans between mitochondrial Eve and that dispersal. The new study looks at the mitochondrial DNA of the Khoi and San people in South Africa, formerly known as Hottentots and Bushmen, who appear to have diverged from other people between 90,000 and 150,000 years ago.
Are we on another countdown to extinction by a plethora of external events from out there that might visit us in 2012? Or are we ready to take a leap in consciousness and become more of who it is that we were created to be?
It’s our choice!
