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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...
Genghis Khan Equestrian Statue, Tsonjin Boldog, Mongolia. Source: Guy Bryant / Adobe Stock

‘Super-Father’: One in 200 Men are Descendants of Genghis Khan

Mongol Emperor Genghis Khan (1162 – 1227 AD) was not just an infamously ruthless warrior, and founder of the largest contiguous empire in history, but was also a prolific father as well, siring so...
Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco), Pre-Columbian archaeological site, Bolivia	Source: worldwonders / Adobe Stock

Hotly Debated Origins of Pre-Inca Civilization of Tiwanaku Revealed by Genetic Study

Tiwanaku – one of the largest Pre-Columbian settlements and archaeological sites, located in western Bolivia, near Lake Titicaca, has hotly debated origins. Even its name, or what would have been...
Bust of an Etruscan woman. Source: Ana Tramont / Adobe Stock

Mysterious Origins of the Etruscans: DNA Study Solves the Riddle

A new study published in the journal Science Advances offers evidence to support the theory of local origins of the Etruscans, an advanced Iron Age peoples in central Italy. For the study, scientists...
One of the ancient Japanese skulls from which DNA was extracted. Credit: Shigeki Nakagome / Trinity College Dublin

Ancient DNA Rewrites Story of Japanese Ancestry

The archipelago nation of Japan has been occupied since the Upper Paleolithic period (36,000 BC), and dual genomic Japanese ancestry has been the dominant theory, up until now. A new study carried...
Deriv; Bust of Plato, map of Santorini, 1703, underwater ruin.

Atlantis: Examining the Legendary Tale of Plato

Around 360 BC, in his dialogues of Timaeus and Critias , the Greek philosopher Plato introduced an incredible story, a tale of an enigmatic island civilization which has since captivated the...
For 2 million years prehistoric humans were super predators and then all the easy prey went extinct, and we had to evolve to a new dietary paradigm: farming.       Source: anibal / Adobe Stock

The Super Predators That Killed Everything They Could. Humans

A team of scientists in Israel have made the news for having made the rather obvious discovery that humans “have been super-predators for 2 million years.” However, this is the dumbed down media take...
Mammoth DNA Breaks Record for World’s Oldest Sequence

Mammoth DNA Breaks Record for World’s Oldest Sequence

Researchers have sequenced the oldest known DNA in the world. Using material from the Early and Middle Pleistocene sub-epochs, the ancient DNA analysis shatters the record for the world’s oldest...
Landmark Study Reveals Elephant Tusk Origins Of 16th Century Shipwreck

Landmark Study Reveals Elephant Tusk Origins Of 16th Century Shipwreck

In 1533, a famous Portuguese trading vessel called the Bom Jesus went missing on its way to India. It sank off the coast of present-day Namibia while it was filled with more than 40 tons of precious...
Study Unravels the Mysterious Origins of Nomadic Mongolian Empires

Study Unravels the Mysterious Origins of Nomadic Mongolian Empires

The Xiongnu, the first nomadic empire in Asia, left no known written records to explain their origins, making this an intriguing ancient genetic mystery. But a new study has cast light on how the...
The first waves of Caribbean inhabitants were diverse. Source: pxfuel / Public Domain.

DNA Studies Reveals True Origins of First Inhabitants of the Caribbean

Archaeologists and anthropologists know that the Caribbean was one of the last parts of the Americas settled by humans, but a new study of DNA has revealed when, how, and where the original Caribbean...
‘Picture on the Box’ for Dead Sea Scrolls Puzzle Found in DNA

Dead Sea Scrolls' DNA Helps Reassemble the Fragments

The Dead Sea scrolls have been analyzed up close revealing the origins of the animal skins upon which they were written. Discovered in the Qumran Caves , near the Dead Sea, in 1946, the Dead Sea...
Thanks to fossil DNA, geneticists now know that different lineages of our ancestors interbred with one another, creating new genetic lines and ensuring the modern human race is genetically diverse. Pictured: Representation of our prehistoric ancestors.      Source: Kovalenko I / Adobe stock

How Ancient Fossil DNA Reveals the Secrets of Our Human Origins

When the human genome was first discovered, it revealed some amazing genetic secrets – modern humans are way more complicated than we originally thought. During a long evolution , humankind picked up...
Research shows that Egypt’s pyramids and other megaliths worldwide are able to collect and focus electromagnetic energy. Could this be linked to accessing genetic memory and savant-like abilities? Pictured: a representation of the power of the mind. Source: agsandrew / Adobe stock

How the Ancients Accessed Genetic Memory and Savant-Like Abilities

The concept known as “genetic memory” is much less studied and far more controversial than what we know as “regular” memory. Whilst there are a multitude of other examples in animals (see: Gallagher...
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...
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...
King Charles II of Spain, was the last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire. He is now best remembered for his physical disabilities. Source: TRAJAN 117 / Public Domain

Inbreeding Armageddon Annihilated The Habsburg Dynasty

Scientists have proven inbreeding brought about severe facial deformations and collapsed of one of Europe’s most powerful historical dynasties . The royal European Habsburg family sat on the throne...
Modern Scots Share DNA With Dark Age Picts. Source: Peter Atkins / Adobe Stock.

Modern Scots Share DNA With Dark Age Picts

Scientists reveal modern Scots have strong genetic links with their Dark Age ancestors. “ We're a' Jock Tamson's bairns” (We are all Jock Tamson’s children) is an old Scottish phrase meaning all...
Surface model of the Xiahe mandible after digital removal of the adhering carbonate crust. Source: Jean-Jacques Hublin, ResearchGate.

The Teeth Have It: Tracing the Denisovan Legacy Around the World

A dental trait found in the Xiahe Denisovan jawbone as well as in some ancient and modern human populations now provides a rare opportunity to track the geographical reach and perhaps even the final...
A new study of the Japanese population reveals the true origin of the Japanese people. Source: Monkey Business / Adobe Stock.

Archeological Mystery Solved with Modern Genetics: Y Chromosomes Reveal Population Boom and Bust in Ancient Japan

The current thinking on the origins of the Japanese population holds that the original inhabitants, the Jomon people , were met about 2,500 years ago by a separate group coming mainly from the Korean...
The ancient Crusaders' DNA can help us understand historical events. Source: Alessandro Cristiano / Adobe.

A History of the Crusades As Told by Crusaders' DNA

History can tell us a lot about the Crusades , the series of religious wars fought between 1095 and 1291, in which Christian invaders tried to claim the Near East. But the DNA of nine 13th century...
The mass grave of 15 skeletons and grave goods at the Koszyce burial. Source: H Schroeder et al / PNAS.

5000-Year-Old Family Found In Mass Burial Was Brutally Murdered

New research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America ( PNAS ) entitled “Unravelling ancestry , kinship, and violence in a Late...
Neanderthal. Source: procy_ab / Adobe Stock

All About Neanderthals – The Surprising Facts

Current evidence suggests that Neanderthals and humans shared a last common ancestor sometime between 765,000 and 550,000 years ago. We speculate that this ancestor was H. heidelbergensis . The story...
Denisovans mated with modern humans.

Modern Humans Could Have Mated With Denisovans as Recently as 15,000 Years Ago

A study has made a startling claim. It argues that an extinct species of humans, the Denisovans , may have mated with modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) as late as 15,000 years ago. This claim is based...

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