In July, rocker Ozzy Osbourne became one of few to submit his blood to have his full genome sequenced and analyzed.
The results are in, and it turns out his genome reveals some Neanderthal lineage, according to Scientific American.
Osbourne and his wife, Sharon, are expected to discuss the testing and its results Friday at the TEDMED 2010 scientific conference in San Diego, California.
In a Sunday Times of London column (registration required), the former Black Sabbath front man said he was reluctant to submitting to the test at first. He eventually gave in to his curiosity over how he had managed to survive years of hard living and substance abuse.
"Given the swimming pools of booze I've guzzled over the years—not to mention all of the cocaine, morphine, sleeping pills, cough syrup, LSD, Rohypnol... there's really no plausible medical reason why I should still be alive," he wrote.
"Maybe my DNA could say why."
The Neanderthals became extinct 30,000 years ago. If Ozzy is part Neanderthal that means one of the Neanderthals ran off with a cro-magnon (early humans). Ozzy might be result of the first inter-species marriage. I bet the cro-magnons were against this believing that God did not approve of inter-species marriage and it wasn't natural for two different species to marry; that their children wouldn't be normal. Thirty thousand years latter we have Ozzy, I guess they were right. However, the Neanderthals would be proud of him because he doesn't live in a cave.
Apparently in a news article about genetics and neanderthals, you can't post a comment with the words h*mo sapien in it. Wow.
The Neanderthal looks better than Ozzy
I'm 40, and grew up listening to Sabeth, now my son at 15 has discovered sabeth and rocks out to them. Yeah, I'll buy that Ozzy has a strand of neanderthal in him. If he does, it is a tough strand of DNA since they have been extinct for over 30,000 years. Maybe its why his body last through the abuse that would have caused others to OD or die young. Besides that, Maybe its why his music was so basic and yet so awesome. As the fathers of metal, they seemed to have tapped into something primal with thier music.
Sorry, its Sabbath, I am educated, just a crappy speller
We all have something common with the Neanderthal. We have 2 ears.
The OzzMan Cometh!!!
This is the stupidest genome sequencing marketing/publicity stunt yet. It is damaging to science, and people should ignore this news completely.
I still prefer Dio over Ozzy.
If you are over the age of 16 and have not listened to and become a fan of Ozzy and Black Sabbath, then you missed it. You should just keep your ipod tuned to britney and go about your shallow existence. Modern rock and metal owe thier existence to Ozzy and Black Sabbeth.
Next thing you know, the scientific community will be reporting that we ALL came from Noah.
They already have.... 🙂
I can think of something worse. How about teaching the cartoonish notion in schools that humans and dinosaurs existed together, as early as 2,000 years ago?
I'm glad to see that your understanding and knowledge of science is so accurate. Clearly you are an example of American Education at its finest.
PS: We all have 4% Neanderthol DNA in us. Science has PROVEN this. Are you going to deny it by saying your ignorance is better?
jon, as absurd as anything from Kentucky is, it would be cool to ride a dinosaur like depicted at the wacky museum they have. I went there, as I had a delivery close, but unfortunately it was closed for cleaning that day. I asked the guy in Lawrenceburg In if there is anything cool in the area, recreation like, and he sent me there. I bet God even laughs at these people! LOL
Ozzy's alive because he's a brummie (birmingham UK) Believe me, if you can survive the first 10 years in Brum you'll go on to live forever.
Sabbeth was the FIRST metal band. Ozzy is a unique individual to say the least. To those that don't like Sharon, I think she is one of the reason he's alive today.
Ozzzyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
Justin Bieber is Ozzy's hidden love child