0:00:07.098,0:00:12.036
Research headed by professor Eske Willerslev from the Center for BioGenetics

0:00:12.036,0:00:18.099
at the University of Copenhagen, shows that modern humans colonized the world twice.

0:00:19.002,0:00:23.005
This is in contrast to previous scientific belief that humanity discovered

0:00:23.005,0:00:28.062
the world outside Africa in one wave of emigration.

0:00:29.055,0:00:35.022
And the reseach shows that the aboriginals, Australia's indigenous population,

0:00:35.022,0:00:40.042
are today's sole descendants of this first wave of emigration.

0:00:40.068,0:00:45.047
The four fathers of the aboriginals emigrated out aproximately

0:00:45.047,0:00:51.071
70,000 year ago, and reached Australia around 50,000 years ago.

0:00:52.033,0:00:55.075
It's actually quite amazing to imagine the journey that the

0:00:55.075,0:00:59.097
ancestors of the aboriginal australians took. I mean,

0:00:59.097,0:01:04.041
you have to remember at this time, 70,000 years ago,

0:01:04.041,0:01:10.080
all of Asia was completly unexplored land for anatomical modern humans.

0:01:10.080,0:01:14.079
So, while our ancestors, the asians and the europeans,

0:01:14.084,0:01:18.050
were sitting somewhere in Africa or potentially in the Middle East,

0:01:18.050,0:01:21.001
not daring, you can say, exploring the world,

0:01:21.001,0:01:25.000
these guys actually swept across this completely untouched land

0:01:25.000,0:01:30.027
reaching Australia at least 50,000 years ago and crossing the sea.

0:01:30.027,0:01:35.093
The study is derived from the DNA of a 100 year old lock of hair like this.

0:01:38.051,0:01:41.072
The lock of hair belongs to an aboriginal man

0:01:41.072,0:01:46.058
from the Goldfield region of south Western Australia.

0:01:46.058,0:01:50.000
The research team, from the University of Copenhagen,

0:01:50.000,0:01:54.091
has succeded in isolating and mapping the genome from the lock of hair.

0:01:54.091,0:02:00.045
This is possible because the DNA encapsulated in hair is quite well protected

0:02:00.045,0:02:03.087
from the ravages of time.

0:02:03.087,0:02:07.087
And the genome analysis has proved that modern humans,

0:02:07.087,0:02:11.090
homo sapiens, populated the world in two waves.

0:02:11.090,0:02:18.083
The first wave, from about 70,000 years ago, reaches all the way to Australia.

0:02:18.083,0:02:23.011
The second wave, mixes with relatives of the aboriginals in Asia,

0:02:23.011,0:02:25.092
but never reaches Australia.

0:02:26.052,0:02:32.039
This really changes the conception of how genetically similar people are outside Africa.

0:02:32.040,0:02:35.004
It now turns out that they are more diverse

0:02:35.004,0:02:39.000
than we thought and, you know, one or two years from now

0:02:39.000,0:02:45.013
it's very likely I think, that we will see other studies showing that

0:02:45.013,0:02:49.020
there might have even been additional migration waves

0:02:49.020,0:02:53.078
into Asia and Europe, that is not recognized today.