Ancestry & Evolution
The desire to understand our origins is primal. By examining our DNA over successive generations through the evolutionary process of inherited characteristics of human and animal populations–as well as from those species from which humans share a common ancestry–we can decipher our individual and collective past and develop medical innovations for the future.
Below is the complete archive of related articles sorted by date.
Neanderthals and humans interbred longer than previously thought
Europeans may be closer to their Neanderthal cousins than was previously thought. Breeding with now-extinct Neanderthals is known to have ...
What is direct to consumer genetic testing actually worth?
Cyrus Farivar uses several direct to consumer genetic testing companies to explore his health risks, specifically for Alzheimer's disease. In ...
Evolution of E.coli’s most virulent strain happened since 2000
Scientists have come closer to understanding how a clone of E. coli, described as the most important of its kind ...
Parkinson’s researchers look for genetic connection to Ashkenazi Jews
The second part of a study of Ashkenazi Jews who carry the LRRK2 gene, the most common genetic contributor to ...
Two sides to knowing your genetic risk for disease
Dr Sharon Moalem recently diagnosed a mother with a rare type of hereditary ataxia, a neurological disorder for which there ...
Species catalogs may need resorting based on genetics
Deep within the labyrinthine interior of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, at the end of a cluster ...
Hummingbirds continue rapid diversification into new species
Hummingbirds took just 22 million years to diversify from a single common ancestor into 338 tiny, colourful species. And they ...
Black Plague’s quirky genetics, 700 years later
The Black Death ravaged the European population, but some survived due to a genetic mutation also implicated in HIV infection ...
Modern genetics undermines neat boundaries of species
Christopher Kemp at Popular Science shows us how genetics can turn one species of bat into seven, all from within ...
Neanderthal link to fat metabolism in the brain
Modern humans of European descent have a lot in common with their Neanderthal ancestors when it comes to genes related ...
Ancient viral DNA may play key role in how human stem cells work
A significant portion of our genetic material is comprised of holdovers from viral infections long ago. Now it seems like ...
DNA evidence suggests Black Plague not a rodent problem
Archaeologists and forensic scientists who have examined 25 skeletons unearthed in the Clerkenwell area of London a year ago believe ...
What does it means to donate your genetics but not be a father?
It’s not unheard-of for a lesbian couple to ask a close male friend to donate; but I’d naively assumed that ...
Urban students’ ancestry added to National Geographic project
Through City College biology professor Michael Hickerson’s project, 200 students are participating in a global research initiative run by National ...
Virus adopted into human DNA may play roll in stem cell pluripotency
McGill Computational Biology Professor Guillaume Bourque suggests in a new paper just published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology that ...
Intermarriage families’ DNA identifies two intellectual disability genes
Researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health have discovered two new genes linked to intellectual disability, according to ...
Gene studies suggest ‘races’ may exist but sociologists push back, fearing stereotypes
Sociologists worry that research into population differences will create a new kind of racism while geneticists believe that social scientists ...
Genetics has dramatically changed the fields of archeology and anthropology. What next?
We are in the midst of an an ancient-genomics boom. In the past year, researchers have unveiled the two oldest ...
DNA identifies missing WW2 soldier, but US won’t use technique to find more
U.S. Army Private First Class Lawrence S. Gordon — killed in Normandy in 1944, then mistakenly buried as a German ...
Why wooly mammoths were so darn extinction-prone
It’s long been known that some of the last woolly mammoths to walk the planet lived in or around the ...
DNA shows early humans killed off giant ostrich
The moa, a giant, ostrich-like bird, lived on New Zealand until the late 13th century, when it went extinct. But ...
Revisiting the “gay gene” controversy: Homosexuality is only a disorder if society makes it one
Earlier this year, findings shared at the annual AAAS meeting triggered a firestorm of "gay gene" headlines and reactionary op-eds ...
Is good parenting in the genes?
Scared expectant parents are always told that knowing how to take care of their offspring just comes naturally. Turns out ...
We’ve got more in common with Neanderthals than once thought
If you'd asked me five years ago whether modern humans and Neanderthals interbred, I'd have said: probably not. I wasn't ...
Your genes give you a unique world of smells–1.7 trillion scents
Humans can distinguish between 1.7 trillion smells on average. Ed Yong blogs about it at National Geographic, revealing in the ...
Y chromosome: wimpy or lean and mean?
Fear not for genetic machismo: Reports of the human Y-chromosome’s demise are greatly exaggerated. Over time, it may have evolved ...
Why, when and how did the chicken cross the Pacific?
Using ancient chicken DNA, researchers at the University of Adelaide’s Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD) have attempted to trace ...
