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Archaeological evidence has shown that our modern human ancestors did not shy away from jumping in bed with other early hominin groups their paths crossed with during windows in evolutionary history. It has long been known that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred quite a bit, and repeatedly at that. However, most recent findings have found that our ancestors were a lot more adventurous than we thought.<br /><br />For a long time, scientists assumed <keyword id="21346409" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="human-evolution" source="keywords">human evolution</keyword> was a neat, linear process. We mingled, swapped DNA and picked up genes that helped us thrive in different environments. Thanks to recent <keyword id="23569495" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="genetic-research" source="keywords">genetic research</keyword>, scientists now know that Denisovans played a big part in this story – and they did it in more ways than one. Evidence shows that Denisovans contributed DNA to our ancestors not just once, but in at least three separate <keyword id="23952885" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="interbreeding-events" source="keywords">interbreeding events</keyword>!<br />  <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="101066001" title="How interbreeding between humans and our Neanderthal cousins 40,000 years ago affects our health today" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>Unlike Neanderthal remains, scientists have but a few Denisovan fossils to study — a pinky finger bone, jaw, teeth, and skull fragments. And this is likely why we have taken longer to piece together their history and relationship to us. While the quest continues to uncover more Denisovan remains, new research has already revealed some fascinating details about how these ancient relatives help us today.<br /><br />For instance, bits of <keyword id="23952883" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Denisovan-DNA" source="keywords">Denisovan DNA</keyword> were found in the genomes of people living today, especially in regions where survival meant adapting to extreme conditions. As it turns out, a Denisovan gene helps people cope with low oxygen levels at high altitudes in <keyword id="23952888" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Tibetan-populations" source="keywords">Tibetan populations</keyword>. In Arctic Inuit populations, Denisovan genes help people generate extra warmth to combat freezing temperatures. Other Denisovan genes boost our immune system, making us more resilient in the face of illness.<br /><br />So, the next time you’re taking a deep breath at high altitudes or bundling up against the cold, remember: you might just be tapping into some ancient Denisovan resilience that’s been part of your genetic code for thousands of years.<br />  <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="105996752" title="If you&amp;#39;re an early riser, you may have Neanderthal DNA to thank for it" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div><br />

Modern humans mated with Denisovans several times in history and it gave us some surprising superpowers!

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Chasing Ice</span></p><p class="caption">Greenland's ice is melting four times faster now than it was 16 years ago.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li>The Arctic is one of the world's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/greenland-approaching-threshold-of-irreversible-melting-2019-1">most vulnerable areas</a> to warming temperatures. Over the past 40 years, <span>Arctic sea ice is estimated to have declined by 40%. </span></li><li><span>According to a <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/27687/Arctic_Graphics.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y">new report from the United Nations (UN) Environment Assembly</a>, the Arctic is in even more dire straits than experts thought.</span></li><li><span>Even if the world met its most ambitious climate change goals - cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to keep global temperature rise <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels</a> - winter temperatures in the Arctic would rise up to 9 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) by the year 2050.</span></li><li><span>These rises in temperature would cause worldwide sea-level rise, damaging property, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/flooding-sea-level-rise-cost-town-100000s-in-lost-income-2019-2">impacting coastal economies</a>, and displacing families. </span></li></ul><p>Over the past few months, news on the climate change front has been dire. <span>The </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/antarcticas-annual-ice-losses-have-accelerated-study-says-2019-1">Antarctic ice sheet is melting</a><span> nearly six times as fast as it did in the 1980s. Greenland's ice is melting <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/greenland-approaching-threshold-of-irreversible-melting-2019-1">four times faster now</a> than it was 16 years ago.</span></p><p><span><a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/3-5degc-temperature-rise-now-locked-arctic">A new report</a> from the UN Environment Assembly delivers another blow to humanity's collective hopes of reining in rising temperatures on a rapidly warming planet. </span><span>Even if global greenhouse gas emissions were to stop overnight, wintertime temperatures in the Arctic would still go up by 9 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100, the report found.</span></p><p><span>More realistically, if the world were to cut emissions in line with <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/the-paris-agreement">the Paris Agreement</a> (in order to keep temperature rise less than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels), winter temperatures in the Arctic would still rise 9 degrees Fahrenheit by 2050 and up 16 degrees Fahrenheit just thirty years after that.</span></p><p><span>Such intense warming would cause unprecedented sea-level rise around the globe. Rising waters <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/flooding-sea-level-rise-cost-town-100000s-in-lost-income-2019-2">threaten coastal homes and economies</a>, further endanger species <a href="http://businessinsider.com/signs-of-6th-mass-extinction-2019-3">threatened by extinction</a>, and displace families that live by the ocean. </span></p><p><em><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://pictures.reuters.com/Package/2C0BF1FQYRUN6?PBC=2CKRYD1D85D:2C04082VM4GXA:2C0BF1FQYRUN6">Bob Strong/Reuters</a></span></p><p class="caption">Over the last four decades, Arctic sea ice has declined by 40%.</p></div><p></p></div></div></em></p><h2><span>Rising Arctic temperatures would cause devastating sea-level rise</span></h2><p>Rising waters not only threaten coastal cities and infrastructure, but also lower coastal property values and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/flooding-sea-level-rise-cost-town-100000s-in-lost-income-2019-2">hamper economies that abut the ocean</a>. <span style="background-color: #ffff00;"></span><span style="background-color: #ffff00;"></span></p><p><span>Over the last four decades, Arctic sea ice has declined by 40%, according to the new report. Climate models predict that, if the current rate of carbon dioxide</span><span> emissions continues, Arctic summers will be ice-free in just over a decade, <a href="https://wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.11822/27687/Arctic_Graphics.pdf?sequence=1&amp;isAllowed=y">according to the new report</a>.</span></p><p><span>In 2012, Greenland lost more than 400 billion tons of ice - almost quadruple the loss in 2003. Those losses continue to accelerate. The melting of the Greenland ice sheet and Arctic glaciers currently contribute to one-third of global sea-level rise.</span></p><p><span>Roughly 1.7 million square kilometers (656,000 square miles) in size, the Greenland ice sheet covers an area almost three times the size of Texas. If the entire Greenland ice sheet were to melt - which would take place over centuries - it would mean <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/greenland-approaching-threshold-of-irreversible-melting-2019-1">a 23-foot rise in sea level</a>, on average. </span></p><p><span>That's enough to submerge the entire southern tip of Florida.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/angut-rasbach-a-five-year-old-inuit-fishermans-son-and-his-news-photo/76751973">Uriel Sinai/Getty Images</a></span></p><p class="caption">A five-year-old Inuit fisherman's son and his four-year-old cousin run in their home village of Ilimanaq, Greenland.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><em><strong>Read More:</strong> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/greenland-approaching-threshold-of-irreversible-melting-2019-1">Greenland is approaching the threshold of an irreversible melt, and the consequences for coastal cities could be dire</a></em></p><h2>Warming Arctic temperatures could kick-start a feedback loop that would derail global climate change efforts</h2><p><span>Meanwhile, rising temperatures are rapidly thawing the Arctic permafrost - a layer of soil that remains frozen all year long.</span></p><p><span>Even if the Paris Agreement emissions levels are met, the Arctic permafrost is still expected to shrink by 45%. This frozen soil traps nearly 2 billion tons of carbon. If it melts, that trapped carbon would enter the atmosphere, contributing to additional warming. More warming will in turn lead to more permafrost thawing, creating a feedback loop that could accelerate global warming enough to make the Paris Agreement's goal of only a 2-degree-Celsius rise nearly impossible.</span></p><p><span>"What happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic," Joyce Msuya, UN Environment's Acting Executive Director, <a href="https://www.unenvironment.org/news-and-stories/press-release/3-5degc-temperature-rise-now-locked-arctic">said in a press release</a>. </span></p><p><span>"We have the science; now more urgent climate action is needed to steer away from tipping points that could be even worse for our planet than we first thought."</span></p>     <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/genetically-engineered-crispr-baby-dna-chinese-scientist-2019-2">A Chinese scientist claims to have genetically engineered babies. Here's what editing DNA means.</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

A devastating Arctic temperature rise that could submerge coastal cities and trigger species extinction is now locked in

You Searched For "Arctic Inuit genetics" and got 2 results

Modern humans mated with Denisovans several times in history and it gave us some surprising superpowers!

BI India Bureau

A devastating Arctic temperature rise that could submerge coastal cities and trigger species extinction is now locked in

Aylin Woodward

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