JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: Some startling new evidence may alter the Theory of Evolution. It comes from Australia, where DNA testing on some skeletal remains found in the Mungo National Park has some scientists a bit puzzled, but very excited. Reporter Gareth Boreham from Australia's Network 10 reports.</s>GARETH BOREHAM, NETWORK 10 REPORTER (voice-over): The debate on human evolution has taken a dramatic twist. New genetic research on Mungo Man, the skeleton found at Lake Mungo in far western New South Wales 26 years ago, has put his age at 64,000 years, and poses significant questions about our origins.</s>PROF. SIMON EASTEAL, GENETICIST: This is a very important find for a number of reasons. The first is that this is the oldest human remains from which we've extracted DNA from anywhere in the world.</s>BOREHAM: Unlike the ape-like Neanderthal, from which Evolution Theory says we evolved, Mungo Man's appearance was just like ours.</s>EASTEAL: Here we have someone who has a completely different type, who is completely modern, but in Australia.</s>BOREHAM (on camera): Significantly, the ANU findings challenge the conventional out of Africa theory of evolution, that all living people are descended from homo sapiens coming from Africa more than 100,000 years ago. (voice-over): Research leader Dr. Alan Thorne says the DNA analysis shows humans actually evolved from different regions of the world.</s>DR. ALAN THORNE, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY: Some notion that everybody came out of one place suddenly now looked very unlikely, at least based on the genetic evidence from the living.</s>EASTEAL: Things are much more complicated than this, and we have a long and complex tapestry of interactions of different genes over extended period of time in different parts of the world.</s>BOREHAM: The research team says the findings should encourage further examination of the dry lake Mungo site, and the wealth of ancient and old bones found there.</s>MESERVE: That was Gareth Boreham reporting.
Origin of the Species: Startling New Evidence May Alter Theory of Evolution