Neanderthals live on within us.
These ancient human cousins, and others called Denisovans, . They mingled and had children. So some of who they were never went away B次元官网网址� itB次元官网网址檚 in our genes. And science is starting to reveal just how much that shapes us.
Using the new and rapidly improving ability to piece together fragments of ancient DNA, scientists are finding that traits inherited from our ancient cousins are still with us now, affecting our fertility, our immune systems, even .
B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檙e now carrying the genetic legacies and learning about what that means for our bodies and our health,B次元官网网址� said Mary Prendergast, a Rice University archeologist.
In the past few months alone, researchers have linked Neanderthal DNA to a , and . They even carried by Neanderthals and Denisovans into mice to investigate its effects on biology, and found it gave them larger heads and an extra rib.
Much of the human journey remains a mystery. But Dr. Hugo Zeberg of the Karolinska Insitute in Sweden said new technologies, research and collaborations are helping scientists begin to answer the basic but cosmic questions: B次元官网网址淲ho are we? Where did we come from?B次元官网网址�
And the answers point to a profound reality: We have far more in common with our extinct cousins than we ever thought.
NEANDERTHALS WITHIN US
Until recently, the genetic legacy from ancient humans was invisible because scientists were limited to what they could glean from the shape and size of bones. But there has been a steady stream of discoveries from ancient DNA, an area of study pioneered by who first pieced together a Neanderthal genome.
Advances in finding and interpreting ancient DNA have allowed them to see things like genetic changes over time to better adapt to environments or through random chance.
ItB次元官网网址檚 even possible to figure out how much genetic material people from different regions carry from the ancient relatives our predecessors encountered.
Research shows some African populations have almost no Neanderthal DNA, while those from European or Asian backgrounds have 1% to 2%. Denisovan DNA is barely detectable in most parts of the world but makes up 4% to 6% of the DNA of people in Melanesia, which extends from New Guinea to the Fiji Islands.
That may not sound like much, but it adds up: Even though only 100,000 Neanderthals ever lived, B次元官网网址渉alf of the Neanderthal genome is still around, in small pieces scattered around modern humans,B次元官网网址� said Zeberg, who collaborates closely with Paabo.
ItB次元官网网址檚 also enough to affect us in very real ways. Scientists donB次元官网网址檛 yet know the full extent, but theyB次元官网网址檙e learning it can be both helpful and harmful.
For example, Neanderthal DNA has been linked to auto-immune diseases like GravesB次元官网网址� disease and rheumatoid arthritis. When Homo sapiens came out of Africa, they had no immunity to diseases in Europe and Asia, but Neanderthals and Denisovans already living there did.
B次元官网网址淏y interbreeding with them, we got a quick fix to our immune systems, which was good news 50,000 years ago,B次元官网网址� said Chris Stringer, a human evolution researcher at the Natural History Museum in London. B次元官网网址淭he result today is, for some people, that our immune systems are oversensitive, and sometimes they turn on themselves.B次元官网网址�
Similarly, a gene associated with blood clotting believed to be passed down from Neanderthals in Eurasia may have been helpful in the B次元官网网址渞ough and tumble world of the Pleistocene,B次元官网网址� said Rick Potts, director of the human origins program at the Smithsonian Institution. But today it can raise the risk of stroke for older adults. B次元官网网址淔or every benefit,B次元官网网址� he said, B次元官网网址渢here are costs in evolution.B次元官网网址�
In 2020, found that a major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals. B次元官网网址淲e compared it to the Neanderthal genome and it was a perfect match,B次元官网网址� Zeberg said. B次元官网网址淚 kind of fell off my chair.B次元官网网址�
The next year, a set of DNA variants along a single chromosome inherited from Neanderthals had the opposite effect: protecting people from severe COVID.
The list goes on: Research has linked Neanderthal genetic variants to , , and . One found that people who report feeling more pain than others are likely to carry a Neanderthal pain receptor. found that a third of women in Europe inherited a Neanderthal receptor for the hormone progesterone, which is associated with increased fertility and fewer miscarriages.
Much less is known about our genetic legacy from Denisovans B次元官网网址� although some research has linked genes from them to fat metabolism and . Maanasa Raghavan, a human genetics expert at the University of Chicago, said a stretch of Denisovan DNA has been found in Tibetans, who continue to live and thrive in low-oxygen environments today.
Scientists have even found evidence of B次元官网网址済host populationsB次元官网网址� B次元官网网址� groups whose fossils have yet to be discovered B次元官网网址� within modern humansB次元官网网址� genetic code.
SO WHY DID WE SURVIVE?
In the past, the tale of modern humansB次元官网网址� survival B次元官网网址渨as always told as some success story, almost like a heroB次元官网网址檚 story,B次元官网网址� in which Homo sapiens rose above the rest of the natural world and overcame the B次元官网网址渋nsufficienciesB次元官网网址� of their cousins, Potts said.
B次元官网网址淲ell, that simply is just not the correct story.B次元官网网址�
Neanderthals and Denisovans had already existed for thousands of years by the time Homo sapiens left Africa. Scientists used to think we won out because we had more complex behavior and superior technology. But recent research shows that Neanderthals talked, cooked with fire, made art objects, had sophisticated tools and hunting behavior, and even wore makeup and jewelry.
Several theories now tie our survival to our ability to travel far and wide.
B次元官网网址淲e spread all over the world, much more than these other forms did,B次元官网网址� Zeberg said.
While Neanderthals were specially adapted to cold climates, Potts said, Homo sapiens were able to disperse to all different kinds of climates after emerging in tropical Africa. B次元官网网址淲e are so adaptable, culturally adaptable, to so many places in the world,B次元官网网址� he said.
Meanwhile, Neanderthals and Denisovans faced harsh conditions in the north, like repeated ice ages and ice sheets that likely trapped them in small areas, said Eleanor Scerri, an archeologist at GermanyB次元官网网址檚 Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology. They lived in smaller populations with a greater risk of genetic collapse.
Plus, we had nimble, efficient bodies, Prendergast said. It takes a lot more calories to feed stocky Neanderthals than comparatively skinny Homo sapiens, so Neanderthals had more trouble getting by, and moving around, especially when food got scarce.
Janet Young, curator of physical anthropology at the Canadian Museum of History, pointed to another intriguing hypothesis B次元官网网址� which anthropologist Pat Shipman shared in one of her books B次元官网网址�- that dogs played a big part in our survival. Researchers found the skulls of domesticated dogs in Homo sapiens sites much further back in time than anyone had found before. Scientists believe dogs made hunting easier.
By around 30,000 years ago, all the other kinds of hominins on Earth had died off, leaving Homo sapiens as the last humans standing.
B次元官网网址業NTERACTION AND MIXTUREB次元官网网址�
Still, every new scientific revelation points to how much we owe our ancient cousins.
Human evolution was not about B次元官网网址渟urvival of the fittest and extinction,B次元官网网址� said John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ItB次元官网网址檚 about B次元官网网址渋nteraction and mixture.B次元官网网址�
Researchers expect to learn more as science continues to advance, allowing them to extract information from ever-tinier traces of ancient lives. Even when fossils arenB次元官网网址檛 available, scientists today can where archaic humans once lived.
And there are less-explored places in the world where they hope to learn more. Zeberg said B次元官网网址渂iobanksB次元官网网址� that collect biological samples will likely be established in more countries.
As they delve deeper into humanityB次元官网网址檚 genetic legacy, scientists expect to find even more evidence of how much we mixed with our ancient cousins and all they left us.
B次元官网网址淧erhaps,B次元官网网址� Zeberg said, B次元官网网址渨e should not see them as so different.B次元官网网址�
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