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Gene

Artist's illustration symbolically depicting the research results. Source: Sayo Studio/Nature

Ancient DNA Reveals Reason for High Multiple Sclerosis Rates in Europe

Researchers have created the world's largest ancient human gene bank by analyzing the bones and teeth of almost 5,000 humans who lived across Western Europe and Asia up to 34,000 years ago. By...
Do You Have the Good or Bad Covid-19 Neanderthal Genes?

Do You Have the Good or Bad Covid-19 Neanderthal Genes?

Back in 2020 researchers claimed that they had discovered a Neanderthal Covid gene which decreased our ability to fight the virus SARS-CoV-2 that causes Covid-19. Now a new research project in Japan...
Monkeys Genetically Engineered with Human Brains!

Monkeys Genetically Engineered with Human Brains!

A human gene injected into monkey brains not only made them larger, but it increased neuron function, making the animals more human. Marmoset brains are much smaller and smoother than human brains...
Human-Neanderthal fertility gene discovered in recent study. Source: Dimid / Adobe Stock.

Neanderthal Gene Makes Women More Fertile

Are you in the “one in three” group of European women with the special Neanderthal gene required for fewer pregnancy issues? The revelatory new DNA study by researchers at the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft...
Silhouettes (Public Domain) in front of blood cells (Public Domain) and a gene.

Rh-Negative Blood: An Exotic Bloodline or Random Mutation?

Most people who have the Rh blood type are Rh-positive. There are also instances, however, where people are Rh-Negative. Health problems may occur for the unborn child of a mother with Rh-Negative...
Top view of the Dolmen of Oberbipp in Switzerland, one of the largest burial sites in the study, where Neolithic remains were studied, revealing clues to the Yamnaya Culture’s migration to Europe.       Source: Urs Dardel / Archäologischer Dienst des Kanton Bern

Neolithic DNA Reveals Surprising Truth of the Yamnaya Culture in Europe

Genetic research has revolutionized our understanding of Switzerland’s prehistoric past. A group of researchers have carried out a study of genomes from individuals who lived in the Late Neolithic...
Ancient couple

Super Archaic Humans Mixed with Unknown 'Ghost' Species

Do you remember those school science posters that depicted human evolution with a primate standing up and becoming a modern human? Of course you do, but you may not have noticed that these posters...
Scientists Crack Secrets of Ginkgo Trees’ Near-Immortality

Scientists Crack Secrets of Ginkgo Trees’ Near-Immortality

A new botanical scientific study on ginkgo trees highlights the species’ hyper-charged defenses and apparent escalation towards “immortality.” Native to China , G inkgo biloba , also known as the...
A preliminary portrait of a juvenile female Denisovan based on a skeletal profile reconstructed from ancient DNA methylation maps. Source: Maayan Harel

Face of the Denisovans? Portrait of a Teen Revealed by Her DNA

Based on ancient DNA methylation patterns, a portrait of a juvenile female Denisovan has been recreated. Only two weeks ago I wrote a news piece for Ancient Origins in which I listed all of the known...
Siberian puppy frozen in permafrost for 14,300 years gives scientists major RNA breakthrough. Source: Siberian Times

Siberian Puppy Frozen for 14,300 Years is a Major RNA Breakthrough

By Svetlana Skarbo/Siberian Times Never before has RNA - Ribonucleic acid - sequencing been carried out from so far back in time. Finding RNA on the puppy found preserved in permafrost in Tumat in...
Neanderthal man at the Natural History Museum London

Spectacular Science! Lab-Grown Mini Neanderthal Brains Could Explain What Makes Humans Different

We’re living in an age when many people believe there are no limits to what technology can do. Apply that to paleogenetics and you’ll see research into ancient disease, the domestication of animals,...
Reconstruction of a Beaker burial, (National Archaeological Museum of Spain, Madrid).

90% of the Neolithic British Gene Pool Was Replaced by Beaker Immigrants

Scientists once could reconstruct humanity's distant past only from the mute testimony of ancient settlements, bones, and artifacts. No longer. Now there's a powerful new approach for illuminating...
Artist's impression of prehistoric hunters.

Dark Skin and Blue Eyes: European Hunter-Gatherers Did Not Fit with Common Representations

The popular image of the light-skinned European hunter-gatherer is not correct. DNA taken from a 7,000-year-old wisdom tooth found in Spain in 2006 shows a different story. A study of the tooth shows...
King Arthur monument in Tintagel, Cornwall.(left), Excalibur in Brocéliande Forest, Brittany, France.(right)

Has the King Arthur Gene Been Traced?

If stories of King Arthur and his knights are based on real people their DNA markers should still be with us today. New DNA research has perhaps found the King Arthur gene. The Genetic Lead R1b-L513...
(B) the child’s mummified body prior to the autopsy, (C) the pockmarked face and (D) this rash as evident on the arm.

Child Mummy Unlocks a Secret by Unravelling 450 Years of the Hepatitis B Virus

Scientists examining the mummy of a child who died in the 16th century have confirmed that the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been causing human health issues for centuries. Strangely enough, it seems...
Adam and Eve (1640s) by Jacob Jordaens.

Do Adam and Eve Fit into the Evolutionary Story?

The common male and female ancestors of human beings are popularly known as “Genetic Adam” and “Genetic Eve.” A study conducted by researchers at the University of Sheffield claims all men can trace...
Reconstruction of what a Neanderthal may have looked like in the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin, Germany

The Widespread Appearance of Neanderthal DNA: Africans Have It Too

It has long been argued that Neanderthal derived DNA is found in all non-Africans. As a result, it has been assumed that Africans fail to carry Neanderthal ancestry… even though Neanderthal skeletons...
Gene for Aging

Scientists Identify and Block Gene Responsible for Brain Aging

A new study published in the journal Neuron has revealed that researchers from the Yale School of Medicine were able to reverse the aging process in the brains of mice by blocking a particular gene...