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.
Ancient Native American DNA remains present ethical minefield
Sequencing the genome of an ancient Native American reveals more about American history, and underscores the difficult, delicate dance of ...
Genetic Atlas: Human history of moving around and fooling around
New statistical approaches are giving us our first real shot at pulling apart the genome to see when human populations ...
Ancestry of first Americans revealed by a boy’s genome
We may never know who the Anzick child was. Why he died, just 3 years old, in the foothills of ...
Scientists hope for a glimpse of King Richard III through DNA analysis
Scientists are to analyze the DNA from the remains of Richard III to create the world's first complete genome sequence ...
Genetic mix lets Tibetans thrive at high altitudes
Genetic adaptations found in people living at high elevations on the Tibetan plateau probably originated around 30,000 years ago in ...
The cross-species merger that made life as we know it possible
The transition from the classic prokaryotic, nucleus-free model to the deluxe eukaryotic one is arguably the most important event in ...
Humans shaped the horse’s gait, through genetics
A genetic mutation in horses that causes them to move with a gait that humans find desirable was spread to ...
Black Death altered European genes
The Black Death of the 14th century may be written into the DNA of survivors' descendants, new research finds. The ...
New York City student ancestry project to analyze DNA
“I’m part Neanderthal,” Rachel Bruton, a member of National Geographic’s Explorer Programs team, told Medical Daily. “I consider it bragging ...
Were Neanderthals a different species?
Up to 40% of the Neanderthal genome may be preserved across our collective genomes, and the areas of the human ...
Neanderthal DNA traces found in African people
Call it humanity's unexpected U-turn. One of the biggest events in the history of our species is the exodus out ...
What is a ‘healthy’ microbiome?
A group of culturally isolated villagers in the Amazon may hold the key to showing us what a healthy microbiome, ...
Questions about the 7000-year-old dark-skinned, blue-eyed hunter
On Jan 26, a paper in Nature detailed the results of sequencing a 7000-year-old skeleton of an ancient hunter-gatherer from ...
Dispute over when “genetic Adam” lived draws Vatican into the fray
Geneticists in search of the first Y chromosome in human genetic history have used the term "Genetic Adam" enough to ...
One-fifth of Neanderthal genome persists in modern human genome
By piecing together the fragments of Neanderthal DNA in the modern genome, researchers found that the stocky hunter-gatherers gave us ...
Genetic drawbacks of having a manly face
Studying sex differences seldom gets boring. The Darwinian process of sexual selection, in which genes that improve an individual’s reproductive ...
Surprise: Ancient europeans had dark skin and blue eyes
Ancient Europeans may have been dark-skinned and blue-eyed (a combination rarely found in modern times) according to DNA from a ...
Number of home DNA testing kits in Britain doubled in last two years
Sales of DNA tests for everything from the risk of developing life-threatening diseases to catching out cheating partners are booming. The ...
Neanderthal DNA linked to good health and bad
Scientists have found that Neanderthals and modern humans coexisted for tens of thousands of years in Europe and Asia and ...
The complex and confusing genetics of schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is even more complex than already believed, with rare gene mutations contributing to the disorder. In two studies published ...
Clocks versus rocks: Genetics and the origin of placental mammals
Of the 5500 extant mammal species, 95 percent bear live young with a placenta. Yet ancestral mammals laid eggs, and ...
Truths and myths about left-brain, right-brain functions
Handedness and brain asymmetry are widely regarded as unique to humans, and associated with left-brain and right-brain functions. But which ...
Deciphering the mysterious X chromosome
The X chromosome is part of the system that determines gender. Yet, despite its significance in human life, the X ...
Breakthrough in bee sex determination gives new insight into human genetics
Let me tell you ’bout the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees.... Remember that old Jewel ...
Genes show dogs are descendants of now-extinct wolf breed
The latest genetic study to trace the origins of dogs confirms the view that they were domesticated by hunter-gatherers at ...
Some ethnically linked genes make it harder to fight off the flu
Research indicated that some Indigenous people such as in Alaska and Australia displayed limited immunity response to the effects of ...
Evolution from water to land, bone by bone
Travel back far enough in your genealogy, and you will run into a fish. Before about 370 million years ago, ...
