What insights have analyses of human mitochondrial DNA provided into our recent evolutionary past?

Recent reconstructions of evolutionary history are often dependent on assigning divergence in terms of changes in amino acid or nucleotide sequences. For example, a comparison of cytochrome c shows 10 amino acid differences between humans and dogs, 24 differences between humans and moths, and 38 differences between humans and yeast. Such data provide no information as to the absolute times of divergence for humans, dogs, moths, and yeast. How might one calibrate the molecular clock to an absolute time clock? What problems might one encounter in such a calibration?

Which of the following structures on a phylogenetic tree represents the evolutionary connections between organisms?

Which principle is NOT used to construct a phylogenetic tree?

Why might mitochondrial, Y chromosome, and autosomal DNA provide different perspectives on our evolutionary past, for example, with respect to our relationship with Neanderthals?

What lines of evidence support the hypothesis that modern humans evolved in Africa and then subsequently migrated throughout the globe?

Discuss how both gains and losses of regulatory elements may lead to human-specific traits.

How do copy-number variants arise? Do they account for more polymorphism than SNPs within the human population?

Consider possible societal and ethical dilemmas that might arise if we currently shared the planet with another hominin.