Key Differences Revealed Between Brains of Modern Humans and Neanderthals
Scientists uncover a greater neuron production in the frontal lobe during brain development in modern humans than Neanderthals due to the change of a single…
Neanderthals News
What Explains Our Lower Back Pain? Anthropologists Turn to Neanderthal Spines for Answers
New analysis considers backbone differences between humans and Neanderthals — and the possible impact of industrialization. Examining the spines of Neanderthals, an extinct human relative,…
War in the Time of Neanderthals: How Our Species Battled for Supremacy for Over 100,000 Years
Around 600,000 years ago, humanity split in two. One group stayed in Africa, evolving into us. The other struck out overland, into Asia, then Europe,…
COVID-19 Genetic Risk Variant Inherited From Neanderthals Protects Against HIV
A COVID-19 risk variant inherited from Neanderthals reduces a person’s risk of contracting HIV by 27 percent. Some people become seriously ill when infected with…
Neanderthals Changed Ecosystems 125,000 Years Ago – Were Not “Primal Hippies”
Hunter-gatherers caused ecosystems to change 125,000 years ago. These are the findings of an interdisciplinary study by archaeologists from Leiden University in collaboration with other…
In a Gene Tied to Growth, Scientists See Glimmers of Human History
A paper in Science Advances focuses on the evolution of the human growth hormone receptor gene. A new study delves into the evolution and function…
Neanderthal Genes Reveal How Old Our Ancestors Were When They Had Children
A new study suggests that generation intervals have fluctuated during the past 40,000 years of human evolution in contrast to what has been commonly assumed….
Prehistoric Cave Art: Neanderthals Indeed Painted Andalusia’s Cueva De Ardales
The origin and date of appearance of prehistoric cave art are the subjects of ongoing debate. Spain’s Cueva de Ardales is one point of discussion….
New Fossil Discovery of a Distinct, Ancient Human Species Points to Complicated Evolutionary Process
Analysis of recently discovered fossils found in Israel suggests that interactions between different human species were more complex than previously believed, according to a team…
Newly Discovered Human Species “Dragon Man” May Replace Neanderthals As Our Closest Relative
A near-perfectly preserved ancient human fossil known as the Harbin cranium sits in the Geoscience Museum in Hebei GEO University. The largest of known Homo skulls, scientists…
Unearthing Neanderthal Population History Using Ancient Nuclear DNA From Cave Sediments
Mitochondrial DNA of archaic humans has been retrieved from cave sediments, but it has limited value for studying population relationships. Now, researchers present a method…
Scientists Discover a New Genetic Mutation That Distinguishes Modern Humans From Neanderthals
Skoltech scientists and their colleagues from Germany and the United States have analyzed the metabolomes of humans, chimpanzees, and macaques in muscle, kidney, and three…
Neanderthal and Early Modern Human Culture Co-existed Alongside Older Traditions for Over 100,000 Years
Research from the University of Kent’s School of Anthropology and Conservation has discovered that one of the earliest stone tool cultures, known as the Acheulean,…
Nuclear DNA From Cave Sediments Helps Unlock Ancient Human History
For the first time, scientists have succeeded in extracting and analyzing Neandertal chromosomal DNA preserved in cave sediments. The field of ancient DNA has revealed…
Oldest Modern Human Genome Reconstructed Using DNA From 45,000-Year-Old Skull
The fossil skull of a woman in Czechia has provided the oldest modern human genome yet reconstructed, representing a population that formed before the ancestors…
New Research Shows Neanderthals Had the Capacity to Perceive and Produce Human Speech
Neanderthals — the closest ancestor to modern humans — possessed the ability to perceive and produce human speech, according to a new study published by…
A Genetic Variant You May Have Inherited From Neanderthals Reduces the Risk of Severe COVID-19
DNA variants passed on to modern humans from Neanderthals can increase as well as decrease our ability to fight SARS-CoV-2, a new PNAS study finds….
Neanderthal Brain Organoids Show How a Single Gene Alteration May Have Separated Modern Humans From Predecessors
Novel study used brain organoids genetically modified to mimic now-extinct Neanderthals. As a professor of pediatrics and cellular and molecular medicine at University of California…
