Brian Anthony Keeling, Binghamton University, State University of New York and Rolf Quam, Binghamton University, State University of New York
Scientists had figured a fossil found in Spain more than a century ago was from a Neandertal. But a new analysis suggests it could be from a lost lineage of our species, Homo sapiens.
This whirlwind tour of social history describes how infectious diseases have shaped humanity at every stage. It suggests reducing inequality will give us our best chance of surviving future plagues.
Humanity carries traces of other populations in our DNA – and a new study shows how one of these ancestors has influenced the immune systems of modern Papuans.
Hundreds of thousands of years ago, our Homo sapiens ancestors shared the landscape with multiple other hominins.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
Ancient DNA helps reveal the tangled branches of the human family tree. Not only did our ancestors live alongside other human species, they mated with them, too.
Researchers need to be careful not to contaminate ancient samples with their own DNA.
Caia Image via Getty Images
Thousands of ancient genomes have been sequenced to date. A Nobel Prize highlights tremendous opportunities for aDNA, as well as challenges related to rapid growth, equity and misinformation.
Svante Pääbo has won the Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for 2022.
EPA-EFE/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE
The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for 2022 has been awarded to Svante Pääbo, whose discoveries have been pivotal to the way we understand our evolutionary history.
Fabrice Demeter (University of Copenhagen / CNRS Paris)
The mysterious Denisovans left DNA traces in populations across Southeast Asia and Australasia, but until now no physical signs of their presence outside Eurasia had been found.
Collection of sediment DNA samples in the Main Chamber of Denisova Cave.
Bert Roberts
Our research has also uncovered major long-term changes in ancient animal populations at Denisova Cave, and has provided the first direct evidence of Homo sapiens having lived there.
A Homo erectus skull from Java, Indonesia. This pioneering species stands at the root of a fascinating evolutionary tree.
Scimex
The ancestors of modern-day people living on Southeast Asian islands likely interbred with a prehistoric species called Denisovans - raising the possibility of fresh and intriguing fossil discoveries.
Early humans called Denisovans lived in a remote mountain cave between 100,000 and 60,000 years ago, and possibly longer still, raising intriguing questions about their relationship to modern humans.
Homo rhodesiensis is an example of an archaic human.
wikipedia
Early humans in Africa may have interbred with a ghost population that likely split from the ancestors of humans and Neanderthals between 360,000 and 1.02 million years ago.
20 years ago, who could predict how much more researchers would know today about the human past – let alone what they could learn from a thimble of dirt, a scrape of dental plaque, or satellites in space.
Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo
20 years ago, who could predict how much more researchers would know today about the human past – let alone what they could learn from a thimble of dirt, a scrape of dental plaque, or satellites in space.
A Neanderthal skull shows head trauma, evidence of ancient violence.
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Denisova Cave in Siberia has a rich fossil history of early humans - and deposits of droppings from hyenas, wolves and even bears, according to a new analysis of the cave’s dirt floor.
The ancestral population of modern humans appears to have split as it moved across Asia.
Shutterstock
New research outlines how the ancestors of modern humans interbred with several archaic human groups on the passage from Africa to Australia.
Richard ‘Bert’ Roberts, Vladimir Uliyanov and Maxim Kozlikin (clockwise from top) examining sediments in the East Chamber of Denisova Cave.
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Author provided
New studies reveal when the Denisovans and their Neanderthal cousins occupied a cave in southern Siberia. It’s the only site known to have been inhabited by them and by modern humans.
We don’t have the full skeleton of a Denisovan so we don’t really know what they looked like.
from www.shutterstock.com
A new study of the DNA of Tibetans has looked at the gene underlying their ability to live in the low-oxygen conditions at high altitudes. It found that this gene has come from an unexpected source – the…
So what’s it to be, buddy, my cave or yours?
Kaptain Kobold
We humans had sex with Neandertals; we bonked the relatives of Neandertals; we got down and dirty with members of an as-yet unrecognised African population; and we, of course, got jiggy with each other…