Mitochondrial Eve: A good fit for the real Eve

Many people scoff at the idea that all humans descended from a woman called Eve only thousands of years ago. But geneticists actually endorse a similar idea, known as mitochondrial Eve.

By studying the DNA in cell parts known as mitochondria, scientists propose that all humans descended from a single woman that lived 200,000 years ago.

But this date relies on evolutionary assumptions, chief of which is the idea chimpanzees and humans shared a common ancestor 6 million years ago.

However, actual research has shown that mitochondrial DNA mutates much faster than this evolutionary estimate, and this drastically reduces mitochondrial Eve's age. This would mean that mitochondrial Eve—as a review in the prestigious journal Science said: 'lived about 6500 years ago—a figure clearly incompatible with current theories on human origins.'

But it is compatible with the Bible's history.