Neanderthals: Facts, news, features and articles about our extinct human relatives
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Neanderthals could talk — but how sophisticated was their language?Neanderthals could talk, but they likely couldn't use or understand metaphors, which compare two unlike things, research suggests.
By Steven Mithen Published
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50,000-year-old Neanderthal bones harbor oldest-known human virusesA new analysis of two skeletons suggests that three modern human viruses infected Neanderthals around 50,000 years ago.
By Emily Cooke Published
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10 unexpected ways Neanderthal DNA affects our healthAround 2% of the genomes of modern Eurasians contains Neanderthal DNA. Here's how it affects our health.
By Emily Cooke Published
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'More Neanderthal than human': How your health may depend on DNA from our long-lost ancestorsFeature Neanderthals and humans mated millennia ago, and their legacy lives on in us today. Here's how.
By Emily Cooke Published
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The mystery of the disappearing Neanderthal Y chromosomeNon-Africans carry around 2% Neanderthal DNA in their genomes — yet there's one chromosome where DNA from our ancient cousins is nowhere to be found.
By Emily Cooke Published
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Could Neanderthals talk?While still the topic of ongoing debate, some scientists think Neanderthals could talk and may have had language.
By Emily Cooke Published
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130,000-year-old Neanderthal-carved bear bone is symbolic art, study arguesThe carved bear bone is one of the earliest human-made artifacts with "symbolic culture" unearthed in Europe.
By Soumya Sagar Published
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Modern Japanese people arose from 3 ancestral groups, 1 of them unknown, DNA study suggestsModern Japanese people largely originated from three ancestral groups and carry ancient DNA that may influence their risk of developing certain diseases, genetic analyses suggest.
By Emily Cooke Published
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India's evolutionary past tied to huge migration 50,000 years ago and to now-extinct human relativesModern Indians inherited genes from what is now Tajikistan and a diverse set of DNA from Neanderthals and Denisovans, new research reveals.
By Emily Cooke Published
