Viking DNA Research Yields Unexpected Information About Who They Were
In the popular imagination, Vikings were fearsome blonde-haired warriors from Scandinavia who used longboats to carry out raids across Europe in a brief but bloody reign of terror.
A 48,000 Years Old Tooth Belonging to one of the Last Neanderthals in Northern Italy
A milk-tooth found in the vicinity of "Riparo del Broion" on the Berici Hills in the Veneto region bears evidence of one of the last Neanderthals in Italy.
The Oldest Neanderthal DNA of Central-Eastern Europe
Around 100,000 years ago, the climate worsened abruptly and the environment of Central-Eastern Europe shifted from forested to open steppe/taiga habitat, promoting the dispersal of wooly mammoth, wooly rhino and other cold adapted species from the Arctic.
A 400-Year-Old Chamois Serves as Model for Research on Ice Mummies
In mummified specimens, DNA has often degraded and is present only in minimal amounts.
Lactose Tolerance Spread Throughout Europe in Only a Few Thousand Years
The human ability to digest the milk sugar lactose after infancy spread throughout Central Europe in only a few thousand years.
Helminth Infections Common in Medieval Europe, Grave Study Finds
Although helminth infections--including tapeworms and roundworms-are among the world's top neglected diseases, they are no longer endemic in Europe.
Remains of 17th Century Bishop Support Neolithic Emergence of Tuberculosis
When Anthropologist Caroline Arcini and her colleagues at the Swedish Natural Historical Museum discovered small calcifications in the extremely well preserved lungs of Bishop Peder Winstrup, they knew more investigation was needed.
New Algorithm Suggests That Early Humans and Related Species Interbred Early and Often
A new analysis of ancient genomes suggests that different branches of the human family tree interbred multiple times, and that some humans carry DNA from an archaic, unknown ancestor.
New Insight Into The Evolution of Complex Life on Earth
A novel connection between primordial organisms and complex life has been discovered, as new evidence sheds light on the evolutionary origins of the cell division process that is fundamental to complex life on Earth.
People Who Inherited a Special Ion Channel from Neandertals Experience More Pain
As several Neandertal genomes of high quality are now available researchers can identify genetic changes that were present in many or all Neandertals, investigate their physiological effects and look into their consequences when they occur in people today.
Researchers Find Evidence of Smallpox in the Viking Age
The fatal disease smallpox is older and more widespread than scientists so far have proved.
Scientists are studying Neandertal DNA in modern humans using stem cells and organoids
Protocols that allow the transformation of human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines into organoids have changed the way scientists can study developmental processes and enable them to decipher the interplay between genes and tissue formation, particularly for organs where primary tissue is not available.
Immune properties in ancient DNA found in isolated villages might benefit humanity today
Could remnants of DNA from a now extinct human subspecies known as the Denisovans help boost the immune functions of modern humans?
DNA Study Finds Evidence of Tropical Disease in Medieval Europe
A DNA study on victims of the plague in mass graves in Lithuania has found a woman inflicted with Frambesia tropica, otherwise known as Yaws disease in addition to having the plague.
Genomic analysis shows long-term genetic mixing in West Asia before world’s first cities
New research on one history's most important trading hubs provides some of the earliest genetic glimpses at the movement and interactions of populations that lived in parts of Western Asia between two major events in human history: the origins of agriculture and the rise of some of the world's first cities.
