The Fascination with Neanderthals Begins For many, the name Neanderthals conjures images of hairy, robust humans who walked ...

This process of discovery has increased significantly since we learnt that some humans have Neanderthal DNA, a genetic fingerprint left behind when ancient humans intermixed with this now-extinct ...

Jef Akst was managing editor of The Scientist, where she started as an intern in 2009 after receiving a master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses.

An ancient-DNA revolution is turning the high-speed equipment used to study the DNA of living things on to specimens from the ...

In the human version, the "language gene" has one amino acid change. However, scientists have introduced the human speech ...

All show Neanderthal DNA getting into sapiens genomes over an extended period sometime between 43,500 and 50,500 years ago. Four also have signs of other such ingressions. The second paper ...

The DNA from these people came from throughout ... how different blood types can help fight against infectious disease. Second, it emphasizes the importance of monitoring blood during both ...

Ancient DNA is telling us more and more about humans and environments long past. Could it also help rescue the future?

If you have ancestry outside of Africa, chances are you carry a small percentage of Neanderthal DNA—a silent reminder of encounters that took place tens of thousands of years ago. What remained ...

they carried genetic traits that helped them survive in unfamiliar climates and resist local diseases. In contrast, Neanderthals, who had lived in Eurasia for much longer, retained older and less ...

There are few human diseases that have been linked to mutations or defects in DNA polymerases. Mutations in the polymerase that replicates mitochondrial DNA, Pol γ, lead to a range of human ...