Cann's discovery that all living humans are genetically descended from a single African mother, known as Mitochrondrial Eve, who lived <200,000 years ago, became the foundation of the Out of Africa theory, the most widely accepted explanation of the origin of all modern humans. The dating for "Eve" was a blow to the multiregional hypothesis and a boost to the theory of the origin and dispersion of modern humans from Africa. With Mark Stoneking and Allen Charles Wilson.