I have spent years covering discoveries that nudge our origin story around the edges, but the sequencing of DNA from one of the very last Neanderthals does something different: it rewrites the center ...

Researchers have found surprising links that show that Neanderthal ancestry influences our immune system today in ways more nuanced than previously recognized. Their work is published in the journal ...

Neanderthal ex machina -- Mummies and molecules -- Amplifying the past -- Dinosaurs in the lab -- Human frustrations -- A Croatian connection -- A new home -- Multiregional controversies -- Nuclear ...

Every human face is unique, allowing us to distinguish between individuals. We know little about how facial features are encoded in our DNA, but we may be able to learn more about how our faces ...

Most modern humans with non-African ancestry carry small amounts of Neanderthal DNA across much of their genome but have little-to-none on their X chromosomes. New research from Penn challenges an old ...

Thin stretches of the human X chromosome look oddly empty when you scan for Neanderthal DNA. Geneticists even have a name for the gaps: “Neanderthal deserts.” They sit there like blank tape in an ...

Most people alive today carry fragments of Neanderthal DNA in their genome. Now scientists are gaining a more intimate understanding of the ancient encounters that put it there. By Carl Zimmer One of ...