Bestseller, geneticist Evelyne Heyer's book, "The Odyssey of Genes" also won the 2021 scientific book prize, organized by the Paris-Saclay urban community in partnership with the S[cube] association. The opportunity, for Sciences et Avenir , to return in videos to his incredible epic retracing 7 million years of our history, thanks to DNA.
A Neanderthal man under the snow, perched on a rock scans the horizon. Drawing by Alessandro Lonati.
HISTORY OF PEOPLES. "My travels have taken me far from my Paris office, from Siberia to Central Asia via Africa, says geneticist Evelyne Heyer, from the Musée de l'Homme, in Paris.Several centuries ago, it was spices or precious metals that drove men and women to mount expeditions. My own spice is the blood that runs through our veins ." And the saliva might add! These are thousands of samples that the researcher has collected from very diverse humans to extract their DNA and reconstruct the history of peoples, their migrations and their interbreeding. She takes us here in a time machine.
Thanks to computer science and genetic engineering amplification techniques, it makes the DNA of current humans speak but also that of our distant ancestors, traces the filiation of individuals, identifies and compares the genes they carried. . His odyssey makes us walk alongside the Homo disappeared Neanderthals and Denisova, of the first farmers of the fertile crescent, of the mysterious people of the steppes perhaps at the origin of the Indo-European languages, of the prolific Genghis Kahn from whom 10% of today's Chinese and Mongols come, daughters of the King, from whom modern Quebecers descend or even slaves whose countries of origin are revealed by genetic testing of African-Americans.
In doing so, it addresses dizzying questions:how can all of the planet's 7.5 billion people descend from a few prehistoric populations in Africa? What is our exact relationship to monkeys? Why are some genetic diseases specific to Quebec? Or, why do the Basque people speak such a unique language? A thrilling journey!
Was the disappearance of Neanderthals written in his genes?
Something Neanderthal and Denisova in us...
Are the people of North Asia descendants of Genghis Kahn?
"Analyses have been done across northern Eurasia of the Y chromosome, which is passed down from father to son and tells the paternal history of our species. And it turns out that in these different forms of Y chromosomes, there is a variant which is very frequent and very recent in this whole region of the world ". Evelyne Heyer tells how it is connected to the story of the famous conqueror Genghis Khan.
What modern DNA says about migrants...and sedentary people
The analysis of ancient and modern DNA sheds light on a fundamental stage in our history:that of the Neolithic revolution which saw humans leave a nomadic way of life, to settle down, raise animals, cultivate plants. Today, migrants take to the road again when their living conditions have become harsh.
Which peoples founded Europe?
And this is how European expansion has displaced millions...
Evelyne Heyer with Xavier Müller, Flammarion, 400 p, €21.90