Neanderthal extinction may have been caused by sex, not fighting
A new paper proposes that Homo sapiens may have been responsible for the extinction of Neanderthals not by violence, but through sex instead.
A new paper proposes that Homo sapiens may have been responsible for the extinction of Neanderthals not by violence, but through sex instead.
Evolution
Oct 31, 2022
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626
Copy number variants (CNVs) are regions of the genome that are duplicated or deleted in some individuals, and are a common type of gene-disabling mutation. The human genome contains hundreds of thousands of CNVs, but typical ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 28, 2022
0
58
Viral DNA in human genomes, embedded there from ancient infections, serves as antivirals that protect human cells against certain present-day viruses, according to new research.
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 27, 2022
0
300
As long as humans have been around, there have been pathogens to make us sick. Some have achieved infamy in human history—the bubonic plague, for example, or smallpox—and with modern technologies, scientists can time-travel ...
Evolution
Oct 17, 2022
0
15
What's stronger and tougher than steel, and more elastic than rubber, weight for weight? Spider silk is, and this incredibly versatile material could transform engineering, materials science and even medicine—if we could ...
Biochemistry
Oct 13, 2022
0
170
In a recent study, a collaborative team of researchers discuss the potential for future lunar settlers to establish a backup data storage system of human activity in the event of a global catastrophe on Earth that could be ...
Space Exploration
Oct 10, 2022
1
25
When the first modern humans arose in East Africa sometime between 200,000 and 300,000 years ago, the world was very different compared to today. Perhaps the biggest difference was that we—meaning people of our species, ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Oct 10, 2022
0
116
Thanks to new RNA vaccines, we humans have been able to protect ourselves incredibly quickly from new viruses like SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. These vaccines insert a piece of ephemeral genetic material into ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 5, 2022
0
46
American Barry Sharpless on Wednesday became only the fifth person ever to win a second Nobel Prize, two decades after being awarded his first.
Other
Oct 5, 2022
0
89
The Nobel prize in physiology or medicine for 2022 has been awarded to Svante Pääbo from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, "for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct ...
Evolution
Oct 4, 2022
0
11