Last Word is New Scientist’s long-running series in which readers give scientific answers to each other’s questions, ranging from the minutiae of everyday life to absurd astronomical ...

For decades, we've thought of our Neanderthal cousins as brutish, primitive beings. Second-class humans driven extinct by their own fallibility and stupidity. But as we are fast learning, the ...

For decades, scientists believed modern humans descended from a single ancestral lineage. However, new research has not only challenged this view, it has simultaneously spawned a new mystery ...

Neanderthal DNA strengthens the immune system and regulates inflammation Denisovan genes help with altitude adaptation and oxygen use Paleogenetics reveals that human evolution is more complex ...

The evolutionary path leading to the rise of modern humans is full of twists and turns, and the latest surprise reveals that our species likely sprung forth from two ancient intermingling populations.

Modern humans descended from not one, but at least two ancestral populations that drifted apart and later reconnected, long before modern humans spread across the globe. Modern humans descended ...

Artwork on the schematical representation of the distribuition of morphological variation of the inner ear along time in Neanderthals. Credit: Alessandro Urciuoli, Institut Català de Paleop An ...

All modern humans share DNA from two ancient populations that split 1.5 million years ago and reunited through interbreeding about 300,000 years ago. The genetic mixture is approximately 80% from one ...

Products are independently selected by our editors. We may earn an affiliate commission from links. Business codes have come a long way from the classic suit and tie. They’ve surpassed archaic ...

After four failed attempts, scientists have at last dated the skeleton of a possible human-Neanderthal hybrid found in Portugal more than two decades ago. The famous and mysterious Lapedo child lived ...

Life appearance reconstruction of a Neanderthal male at the Natural History Museum of London. Credit: Allan Henderson, under CC BY 2.0 New study challenges the theory that Neanderthals originated ...

They have uncovered significant evidence of human habitation dating back 40,000 to 80,000 years, as well as from the late prehistoric and historical periods. Lorestan’s department for Cultural ...