Latest Human evolution Stories

[ Watch the Video ] Researchers have decoded the entire genome of a fossil from an extinct species of human related to Neanderthals. The team from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology sequenced every position in the Denisovan genome about 30 times over. They used DNA extracted from less than 10 milligrams of the finger bone discovered in Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. Svante Pääbo and his colleagues presented a draft version of the genome in 2010 that...

A new study, using genetic analysis to look for clues about human migration over sixty thousand years ago, suggests that the first modern humans settled in Arabia on their way from the Horn of Africa to the rest of the world. Led by the University of Leeds and the University of Porto in Portugal, the study is published today in American Journal of Human Genetics and provides intriguing insight into the earliest stages of modern human migration, say the researchers. "A major unanswered...

The timing and pattern of the migration of early modern humans has been a source of much debate and research. Now, a new study uses genetic analysis to look for clues about the migration of the first modern humans who moved out of Africa more than 60,000 years ago. The research, published January 26 by Cell Press in the American Journal of Human Genetics, the official journal of the American Society of Human Genetics, provides intriguing insight into the earliest stages of human migration and...

A tiny mountainous region in southern Siberia may have been the genetic source of the earliest Native Americans, according to new research by a University of Pennsylvania-led team of anthropologists. Lying at the intersection of what is today Russia, Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan, the region known as the Altai "is a key area because it's a place that people have been coming and going for thousands and thousands of years," said Theodore Schurr, an associate professor in Penn's Department...

Not so long ago it was the work of many years to sequence the genome of a single organism: the human genome project, for example, took many laboratories a total of 13 years to complete. The availability of so-called next-generation sequencing methods makes it easy – and comparatively cheap – to sequence DNA, although sequencing the large number of individuals required for population genetics studies is still time-consuming and costly and has thus been restricted to few organisms. The...

Chimpanzees might be able to determine whether or not their fellow chimps need to hear a specific message, according to a new study published in the journal Current Biology. According to Guardian Science Correspondent Ian Sample, researchers from the University of St. Andrews, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, and the Budongo Conservation Field Station in Uganda, observed the creatures selectively sounding a warning call, apparently based on whether or not they...

Scientists studying a unique collection of human skulls have shown that changes to the skull shape thought to have occurred independently through separate evolutionary events may have actually precipitated each other. Researchers at the Universities of Manchester and Barcelona examined 390 skulls from the Austrian town of Hallstatt and found evidence that the human skull is highly integrated, meaning variation in one part of the skull is linked to changes throughout the skull. The...

Compared to Neanderthals, modern humans have a better sense of smell Differences in the temporal lobes and olfactory bulbs also suggest a combined use of brain functions related to cognition and olfaction. The increase of brain size is intimately linked to the evolution of humanity. Two different human species, Neanderthals and modern humans, have independently evolved brains of roughly the same size but with differing shapes. This could indicate a difference in the underlying brain...

Dietary change led to the appearance of modern humans in the Middle East 400,000 years ago, say TAU researchers Elephants have long been known to be part of the Homo erectus diet. But the significance of this specific food source, in relation to both the survival of Homo erectus and the evolution of modern humans, has never been understood — until now. When Tel Aviv University researchers Dr. Ran Barkai, Miki Ben-Dor, and Prof. Avi Gopher of TAU's Department of Archaeology and Ancient...

Users of game designed by McGill researchers contributing to analysis of DNA sequences Thousands of video game players have helped significantly advance our understanding of the genetic basis of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes and cancer over the past year. They are the users of a web-based video game developed by Dr. Jérôme Waldispuhl of the McGill School of Computer Science and collaborator Mathieu Blanchette. Phylo is designed to allow casual game players to contribute to...