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For Modern Humans, Neanderthals Were a Lifeline
For Modern Humans,
Neanderthals Were a Lifeline
NEW STUDY
Dec 13, 2024 12:13 PM CST

For Modern Humans, Neanderthals Were a Lifeline

We might not have survived without them, genomes reveal

(Newser) - Modern humans didn't physically overcome Neanderthals to emerge as the dominant human species. Instead, Homo sapiens mated with Neanderthals, and new research suggests it was only due to interbreeding between the two species that Homo sapiens—now with inherited genes that helped them adapt to life in Eurasia—found...

Shark That Can Live 400 Years Reveals Its Secret
Shark That Can Live
400 Years Reveals Its Secret
NEW STUDY
Sep 24, 2024 1:58 PM CDT

Shark That Can Live 400 Years Reveals Its Secret

Greenland shark genome shows duplicated genes involved in DNA repair

(Newser) - The Greenland shark is the world's longest-living vertebrate, or animal with a backbone, capable of living a mind-bending 400 years. Now, with the mapping of the shark's genome, the biggest of any shark sequenced to date, researchers say they've unlocked potential secrets to the animal's longevity...

Blue Whales Carry Surprising Levels of Another Species' DNA

North Atlantic blue whales receiving fin whale DNA through mating with hybrid offspring

(Newser) - The blue whale population has started to recover from the devastation brought by commercial whaling in the early 20th century. But the world's largest ever animal isn't quite the same. In analyzing the genomes of Balaenoptera musculus musculus—the "most endangered" of four subspecies of blue whale,...

Scientists Find an Ancient Syphilis Relative in Brazil

Research suggests the bacterium has been around for millennia

(Newser) - People who lived with painful mouth and skin sores on the south coast of Brazil some 2,000 years ago carried the oldest known evidence of a syphilis relative. Treponema pallidum, the bacterium that causes syphilis, is "one of the least well understood common bacterial infections," one expert...

With Locks of Hair, Scientists Solve a Beethoven Mystery
With Locks of Hair, Scientists
Solve a Beethoven Mystery
in case you missed it
Mar 26, 2023 7:15 AM CDT

With Locks of Hair, Scientists Solve a Beethoven Mystery

DNA indicates the contributing factors of the liver disease thought to have killed him

(Newser) - With one Ludwig van Beethoven mystery likely solved , it's on to another one: why he spent his life in so much pain. It's a quest that led scientists to sequence his genome in a search for answers as to what may have caused his hearing loss, days-long bouts...

This Is the Source of All Weed
This Is the Source of All Weed
NEW STUDY
Jul 20, 2021 11:49 AM CDT

This Is the Source of All Weed

Study suggests cannabis was first grown in northwest China

(Newser) - Humans have been growing cannabis for 12,000 years, according to new research claiming to pinpoint where the first crops were developed. Scientists writing in Science Advances add 82 whole genomes of cannabis plants to the 28 already sequenced, determining the first Cannabis sativa plant was likely domesticated not in...

2 Women Win Chemistry Nobel for Tool With 'Enormous Power'

Emmanuelle Charpentier, Jennifer A. Doudna claim prize for their genome editing method

(Newser) - French scientist Emmanuelle Charpentier and American Jennifer A. Doudna have won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing a method of genome editing likened to "molecular scissors" that offer the promise of one day curing genetic diseases. The recipients were announced Wednesday in Stockholm by the Royal Swedish Academy...

Humans Mated With Mysterious Species Twice
Humans Mated Outside
Our Species 3 Times
NEW STUDY
Mar 16, 2018 9:31 AM CDT

Humans Mated Outside Our Species 3 Times

Second instance of human-Denisovan interbreeding discovered

(Newser) - Ancient humans weren't against knocking boots with other species: We know they had sex with Neanderthals . We also know they mated with the mysterious Denisovans, as some Australasians (those from Papua New Guinea in particular) have 5% Denisovan DNA. But a "breakthrough" study shows the interbreeding wasn't...

Canaanites Weren't Annihilated by Ancient Israelites After All

Researchers say they lived on to become the ancestors of today's Lebanese

(Newser) - The Bible suggests the Canaanites were wiped out by the ancient Israelites, but a new study says otherwise, claiming the people survived and went on to be the ancestors of those who today live in Lebanon, ScienceDaily reports. Per a study in the American Journal of Human Genetics , researchers from...

Could This Grain Feed the Planet?
This 'Super Food'
Could Feed
the Planet
 
in case you missed it
Feb 18, 2017 1:16 PM CST

This 'Super Food' Could Feed the Planet

Scientists unlock genome for foodie favorite quinoa

(Newser) - It has been hailed as a super food, a nutrient-packed , gluten-free dish that even carb counters can get behind. But could quinoa feed a hungry planet? That's the hope behind a new effort by scientists who've unlocked the humble grain's genome. "Quinoa has great potential to...

Morning Person or Night Owl? Your Genes May Decide

Biology may be influencing if you stay up all night or wake up with the sun

(Newser) - You may be naturally disposed toward being a morning person or a night owl—and scientists are now saying that may have a true biological basis that's hard to fight, the Guardian reports. Per a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications , researchers under the direction of 23andMe lead scientist...

Scientist Tackles 'Last Major Disease We Don't Know Anything About'

Whitney Dafoe no longer walks, talks, or eats, and is fed intravenously

(Newser) - Whitney Dafoe packed a lot in his first quarter-century of life. The son of renowned scientist Ronald Davis, the head of the Genome Technology Center at Stanford University, was an award-winning photographer who traveled the world and worked on Obama’s 2008 campaign. Now 31 and diagnosed with systemic exertion...

Study: DNA Test Can Predict Whether You're Gay

Potential for misuse troubles lead scientist, who's just left the lab

(Newser) - UCLA scientists think they've developed the first test that can accurately predict whether a man is gay based on his DNA, and all it takes is a swab of saliva, reports New Scientist . The researchers examined 400,000 epigenetic tags—"chemicals that latch onto DNA and help turn...

Test Can Detect Every Virus to Afflict Humans, Animals

Even uncommon viruses and ones present in low levels: scientists

(Newser) - A new test developed by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis may prove an invaluable aid to doctors who can't figure out what's wrong with their patients. The test, described in a study in the Genome Research journal, is able to detect, all at...

Genome Reveals Secrets of Last Mammoths
 Genome Reveals Secrets 
 of Last Mammoths 
in case you missed it
Apr 26, 2015 5:01 PM CDT

Genome Reveals Secrets of Last Mammoths

Low genetic variation perhaps led to decline on Wrangel Island

(Newser) - The last of the woolly mammoths in Siberia died out about 10,000 years ago, but a smaller number living on Wrangel Island, off the coast of what is now Russia, managed to stick around for another 6,000 years. Researchers set out to investigate the two groups and the...

Google's Big New Project: Autism Research

Company aids in sequencing thousands of genomes

(Newser) - To learn more about the genetics behind autism, researchers are planning to sequence the genomes of thousands of people—and they've enlisted a partner who knows a thing or two about sifting through scads of data. Using its Genomics tool, Google will host on its servers and index the...

Easter Islanders Not as Isolated as Thought

Genetic data suggests travel to and from South America 20-plus generations ago

(Newser) - Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, is such a remote speck of rock in the Pacific Ocean that it has been nicknamed "navel of the world." Yet a review of genetic data of 27 natives suggests the islanders made contact with outsiders hundreds of years before the first Europeans...

Sorry, Blood in Gourd Isn't from Louis XVI
 Sorry, Blood in Gourd 
 Isn't from Louis XVI 
study says
Apr 25, 2014 10:06 AM CDT

Sorry, Blood in Gourd Isn't from Louis XVI

Researchers map out genome

(Newser) - A famous gourd was believed to contain the blood of Louis XVI after he was beheaded: It said as much in an inscription, and some research has appeared to confirm it. Now, however, experts have sequenced the blood's genome, and they're saying the opposite, the BBC reports. Their...

Peppers Might Get Spicier Thanks to Scientists

Researchers discover gene for capsaicin

(Newser) - Don't say science never did anything for you, spicy food lovers. Last week researchers published the full genome for the hot pepper (Capsicum annuum), a discovery that, according to LiveScience , could have a very practical application: even hotter peppers. The findings will "help breeders accelerate the research of...

Genetically, Dolphins Are Like ... Bats?

They have nearly 200 genomic regions in common

(Newser) - One is an adorable marine mammal. The other is a creepy flying rodent that inspires masked vigilantes. But it turns out that, deep down, dolphins and bats have a surprising amount in common. A new study has found that dolphin and bat genes are strikingly similar in nearly 200 genomic...

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