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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Modern humans have a small amount of Neanderthal DNA, and those genes still impact our health today.</li><li>Scientists think they've figured out when the two groups started interbreeding and swapping DNA.</li></ul>We might consider Neanderthals to be ancient and unknowable relatives, but humans were once on very intimate terms with them.Our ancestors, for example, had babies with the shorter, stockier species and swapped DNA for thousands of years.Now researchers think they've figured out when much of this <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/some-more-neanderthal-dna-others-scientists-why-2023-10">interspecies intermingling</a> took place, which could provide clues about why humans outlasted their ancient cousins.Studying genomic data from both ancient and modern humans, scientists learned that Neanderthals and humans were having sex around 47,000 years ago then stopped less than 7,000 years later — relatively brief in terms of evolution."This study gives us the most accurate picture showing how some Neanderthals joined into the modern human gene pool, and then what happened to their genes afterward," John Hawks, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who was not involved in the research, told Business Insider.All humans have at least a little Neanderthal DNA, a 2020 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(20)30059-3">study</a> found. These <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-interbreeding-between-humans-and-neanderthals-affects-our-health-today-2023-6">genes may impact</a> everything from metabolism to our risk for diabetes.Finding out when humans acquired them can help scientists understand how these genes evolved and why they might have been beneficial to our ancestors and stuck around in our DNA for millennia.<h2 id="64b33196-5a80-4c02-9e77-14f882e71692">When did humans and Neanderthals start interbreeding?</h2><div type="image" title="Two Neanderthal skeletons on display at The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History" height="1585" width="2003" msid="110804461" hostid="261" sizebytes="198430"></div>The basic story of human-Neanderthal relationships goes like this: We <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2019/may/neanderthals-and-modern-humans-diverged-least-800000-years-ago">shared</a> a common ancestor over 500,000 years ago then went our separate ways.Then, around 75,000 years ago, Neanderthals were living in Asia and Europe when some humans started moving out of Africa. The two groups began having children together shortly after that, sometime between 60,000 and 50,000 years ago.But by 40,000 years ago, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neanderthals-extinct-humans-naked-neanderthal-book-2024-2">Neanderthals were extinct</a>.For this latest study, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and the University of California, Berkeley looked at DNA from 59 humans who lived between 45,000 and 2,200 years ago.To figure out when our ancient human ancestors hooked up with Neanderthals, the researchers compared stretches of Neanderthal DNA in their genomes. Individuals from about 40,000 years ago had long stretches of gene-containing chromosomes that matched the other species.The researchers saw that after just a few thousand years, these segments were shorter. This means those humans were more distantly related to Neanderthals, Hawks said.Using computer software, the scientists created models to estimate how many generations had passed since a Neanderthal entered their family tree. From that, they set the starting date of human-Neanderthal hookups at around 47,124 years ago and estimated that interbreeding lasted for about 6,832 years."The conclusion is fairly strong," Hawks said, because the estimates fit both the earlier and later human genomes. <h2 id="9369ca5b-0d18-47d4-a530-2bf60b9f8c51">The Neanderthals that live on inside us</h2><div type="image" title="Neanderthal Evolution" height="1969" width="3500" msid="110804459" hostid="261" sizebytes="390290"></div>In addition to ancient human DNA, the researchers also studied the genomes of 275 modern people from various backgrounds to learn more about how humans and Neanderthal genes have evolved over the millennia."It is possible to track the fate of single parts of chromosomes that were once in a Neanderthal individual, came into that individual's modern descendants, and were passed on until the present day," Hawks said.For example, the researchers found both current and ancient humans have Neanderthal genes that affect metabolism, immunity, and skin pigmentation.They speculate that these characteristics may have benefited ancient humans who inherited them and then kept passing them on. One <a target="_blank" href="https://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/genetics/ancient-dna-and-neanderthals">hypothesis</a> is that paler skin would have helped increase Vitamin D levels in gloomier climates.Other studies have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neanderthals-humans-belong-to-same-species-could-rewrite-history-evolution-2023-12">linked Neanderthal genes</a> to autoimmune diseases and diabetes. On the other hand, some DNA from the species seems to protect people from West Nile, hepatitis C, and SARS.The study's results don't necessarily apply to everyone. For instance, no present-day people of African ancestry were included because only about 0.5 % of their DNA comes from Neanderthals.However, almost everyone else in the world is about 2% Neanderthal, so learning more about the species' genes could shed light on many peoples' <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neanderthal-dna-and-modern-humans-2014-1">susceptibility to certain diseases</a>.The researchers published their work in a pre-print <a target="_blank" href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.05.13.593955v1.full">study</a>, which hasn't been peer-reviewed yet.

Humans and Neanderthals only had sex for a brief period, but it still fundamentally changed our DNA

<ul class="summary-list"><li>2,000-year-old bones add evidence against the idea Columbus brought syphilis to Europe. </li><li>A European outbreak of the STI in the late 1400s was long blamed on the conquistadors. </li></ul>The idea that Christopher Colombus brought back <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-syphilis-in-babies-rates-up-killing-hundreds-2022-4">syphilis</a> from the New World might be completely wrong.A long-standing hypothesis held that Spanish conquistadors had picked up the sexually-transmitted infection (STI) and introduced it to Europe in the late 1400s.But a paper published Wednesday in the peer-reviewed journal <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=5665415566a290e3874cf144166e9a89d6ce0502d9dfc72d2b75f86ed975163d&amp;postID=65b22af6d40d73d7027d0397&amp;postSlug=columbus-likely-didnt-bring-syphilis-to-europe-ancient-dna-suggests-2024-1&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41586-023-06965-x">Nature</a> adds to a mounting body of evidence that the conquistadors didn't spread the disease following their invasion of now South America.Instead, the bacteria may have emerged a lot sooner than previously thought, Verena Schünemann, professor of Paleogenetics from the University of Basel, told Business Insider."Of course, we cannot prove it wrong — it doesn't work yet. But it seems that there's a much more complex story developing than these hypotheses are capturing currently," she told BI.<div type="image" title="An engraving shows columbus speaking with the then king of Spain after his first expedition." height="643" width="895" msid="107153529" hostid="261" sizebytes="241148"></div><h2>The timing of the arrival of syphilis in Europe is suspicious</h2>Looking at historical literature, you would think syphilis definitely arrived with the conquistadors.There was a big outbreak of syphilis in Europe in the late 1400s, mostly in harbor towns, seemingly out of the blue.This lined up suspiciously with the return of sailors who accompanied<a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3956094/"> Columbus</a> on his voyage to South America.Records of syphilis outbreaks before then were poor. Later excavations revealed bones in South America that carried lesions typically associated with a syphilis infection.Altogether, this prompted historians to look at the voyage as an early example of how infections can spread across the globe.Except, it's likely not that simple.Later observations revealed some <a target="_blank" href="https://www.science.org/content/article/medieval-dna-suggests-columbus-didn-t-trigger-syphilis-epidemic-europe">skeletons found in European</a> sites may also carry lesions typical of a syphilis infection, long before the first contact with pre-Columbian indigenous Americans.As the plot thickens, scientists have started looking to more modern methods of investigation to uncover what really happened.<h2>DNA analysis reveals a more complicated story</h2>To understand the history of syphilis better, Schünemann and her colleagues looked at 2,000-year-old bones carrying the characteristic lesions, which were found about 20 years ago in now Brazil.They drilled tiny holes in the lesions using dentists' tools and extracted the ancient DNA left behind by the bacteria in the bone.The analysis found that some of these lesions weren't caused by the bacteria behind sexually-transmitted syphilis but by a closely related cousin.While this microbe is very similar to the one behind syphilis — it is part of the same family, called Treponema — it causes a completely different disease, called Bejel, which is not sexually transmitted.It is still around today, mostly in Asia and Japan."We actually didn't expect to find it there," said Schünemann."Usually it's in arid regions, not so much in those humid coastal, tropical region. That's why we were quite surprised — this is a completely different environment than where you expect to find it," she said.This suggests that the bones lesions alone don't guarantee that syphilis was present in South America before Columbus, poking holes in the evidence used to support the hypothesis.The study is "really exciting because it is the first truly ancient treponemal DNA that has been recovered from archaeological human remains that are more than a few hundred years old," says Brenda Baker at Arizona State University, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2413971-syphilis-like-bacteria-found-in-2000-year-old-human-remains-in-brazil/">per New Scientist.</a><div type="image" title="A 3D rendering shows a spiral-shaped bacterium" height="1299" width="2309" msid="107153531" hostid="261" sizebytes="78898"></div><h2>The mystery remains</h2>The findings don't decisively close the door on the Columbus theory. But they do offer precious clues to better understand what happened."It helps us indirectly," said Schünemann.With this ancient genome, Schünemann and colleagues were able to discover that the whole Treponema family is much older than had ever been expected.The analysis suggests that these closely-related bacteria have a common ancestor about 14,000 years ago, said Schünemann.That means these bacteria could easily have traveled around the world several times with the different human migrations, much earlier than Columbus's expeditions."We can now play around and say, okay, which hypothesis can we maybe develop from that?" said SchünemannFor Schünemann, it's more likely that the bacteria causing syphilis, Bejel, and other cousins of the Treponema family were already around in Europe, India, and the Americas, long before the first contact between Columbus and indigenous Americans."I think there's definitely a potential that they were around before the contact," she said.It will be interesting, she said, to try to do the same analyses on the European bones carrying lesions and to find even older samples that could draw a better picture of the Treponema family tree.The importance of the work goes beyond solving this historical mystery. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gonorrhea-syphilis-cdc-pandemic-lockdowns-did-not-slow-spread-2022-4">Syphilis</a> and its cousins are still rampant in the world today.While they are kept under control by <a target="_blank" href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/yaws">antibiotics</a>, they are learning quickly how to side-step the treatments.<div type="image" title="An illustration shows pox and necrosis linked with untreated syphilis." height="4433" width="6792" msid="107153532" hostid="261" sizebytes="1296496"></div>Left untreated, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/the-facts/syphilis_bro_508.pdf">syphilis</a> can cause permanent damage to the heart, brain, and other internal organs. Bejel, or yaws, is a childhood disease that can be disfiguring and debilitating.By looking back at how it has evolved with humans in the past, for instance how the microbes pass genetic information back and forth, we can better predict how it will progress going forward."When it comes now to this increase in antibiotic resistance and so on, then it can help in the future to develop new strategies to fight this bacteria," she said.

Ancient human DNA suggests Columbus may not have brought syphilis to Europe after all

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Google CEO Sundar Pichai spoke about AI's potential at the UN's Summit of the Future.</li><li>Pichai said AI will help sustainable development, scientific discovery, and climate action.</li></ul>Big Tech companies like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google">Google</a> are betting that AI technology will help them earn billions in profits, and they're funneling tons of resources toward the technology. But this rush to cash in on AI raises questions about who will take the spoils: Are we moving toward a future where everyone thrives, or one where the rich get richer, and the poor remain stagnant?<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sundar-pichai-google-alphabet-ceo-career-life">Google's CEO Sundar Pichai</a> thinks we're headed to a better, more equitable world.At the Summit of the Future on Saturday, where world leaders gathered at the UN headquarters in New York to discuss AI and other topics, Pichai made a powerful case for AI's benefits. He articulated four key areas where AI could further the UN's sustainable development goals, 17 goals that comprise a "shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet," according to the UN.<h2 id="41abaed9-b170-4caf-ae54-7eb24e4c1792">Accessing knowledge in their native language</h2>Pichai said that over the past year, Google has added 110 new languages to Google Translate and is working toward 1,000 of the world's most spoken languages.<h2 id="938056f3-5582-4d3e-8f43-a092aa1c1d53">Accelerating scientific discovery</h2>In May, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://blog.google/technology/ai/google-deepmind-isomorphic-alphafold-3-ai-model/">Google announced Alphafold 3</a>, a model developed by Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs that could accurately predict the structure of proteins, DNA, RNA, and ligands, and presented a novel breakthrough in drug discovery.Since then, Google has made Alphafold free to use, and it has been accessed by over 2 million researchers in over 190 countries, 30% of which are in the developing world, Pichai said. "Globally Alphafold is being used in research that could help make crops more resistant to disease, discover new drugs in areas like malaria vaccines, and cancer treatments, and much more."<h2 id="881ef818-624e-4c07-818d-796a71b37c61">Mitigating climate disaster</h2>Pichai said Google's Flood Hub system provides early warnings on climate disasters up to seven days in advance and protects over 460 million people in 80 countries. Google's boundary tracking systems for wildfires are also already in 22 countries. Earlier this month, Google also <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://blog.google/outreach-initiatives/sustainability/google-ai-wildfire-detection/">announced FireSat</a>, "a new global satellite constellation designed specifically to detect and track wildfires the size of a classroom within 20 minutes."AI gives these technologies "a boost in accuracy, speed, and scale," he said.<h2 id="7e290efd-42cc-4f9b-a8d5-cf7954bfce64">Contributing to economic progress</h2>Pichai said studies show that AI could boost global labor productivity by 1.4 percentage points and increase global GDP by 7 points within the next decade.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai says AI will advance humanity in these 4 key ways

<ul class="summary-list"><li>There's new evidence that chemicals can migrate to human bodies via material like plastic containers.</li><li>It's not clear what the health risks may be, but at least a few of the chemicals are known hazards.</li></ul>New research suggests you're being exposed to thousands of chemicals, including hazardous substances, that can leach into the human body through food- and beverage-related material like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/drinking-from-plastic-bottles-can-increase-diabetes-risk-new-research-2024-6">plastic bottles</a> and takeout containers.It's not a surprise that our environment is full of contaminants, like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microplastics-penises-testicles-male-fertility-plastic-health-environment-2024-7">microplastics</a>, that can accumulate in our bodiesBut researchers in a recent study were taken aback by just how many chemicals in our everyday items can migrate into humans, and said it's "concerning" that we don't fully understand the risks.The researchers, led by scientists from a Swiss nonprofit called the Food Packaging Forum Foundation, looked at data on more than 14,000 food contact chemicals — substances in containers or other materials that touch what we eat and drink.The study, published September 17 in the <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=98f40f9124eaa010f2a0a4c0fb4f3c1e59d87c00a6f65522c297e9b5c22824cf&amp;postID=66eae69769657a7deb42dbab&amp;postSlug=thousands-of-chemicals-entering-human-bodies-from-food-packaging-study-2024-9&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41370-024-00718-2">Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology</a>, explained that 25% of the chemicals they were studying — about 3,601 substances — showed up inside the human body, in samples including skin, hair, blood, breast milk, and fat tissue.That suggests manufacturing chemicals are migrating into our bodies from items we use to store, package, or cook our food. It's not just plastic either, since even paper or cardboard can contain substances like ink that can be problematic when it comes into contact with food.<h2 id="27fa7f62-8a96-4c1c-a5a6-1d66b9506469">Trying to understand the health risks</h2>Scientists are digging for clues to understand the impact of these chemicals on long-term health.Some of these chemicals are known to be dangerous, including <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-causes-cancer-food-products-that-increase-your-cancer-risk-2018-3">carcinogens (cancer-causing) substances</a> and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-avoid-toxic-chemical-phthalates-in-food-makeup-toiletries-2021-10">toxins</a> linked to hormone and reproductive problems.One such category is called PFAs (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), known as "<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chart-how-long-hazardous-forever-chemicals-pfas-stay-in-blood-2023-3">forever chemicals</a>" because they linger and accumulate in our bodies and in the water and soil. PFAs exposure is linked to some cancers, liver damage, and more, as well as possible developmental defects in children.Other hazardous chemicals the study found in food and our bodies include <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/diet-nutrition/what-is-bpa">BPA</a> (a toxic ingredient in packaging linked to hormone problems) and heavy metals that can cause harm to our DNA.And there's a lot we don't know about many of the other chemicals found in human samples, including whether they might be harmful or what, if any, amount is safe.The actual number of chemicals we're exposed to through food and drinks could also be much higher than the 3,601 estimated in the study, according to the researchers.<h2 id="5746f6cb-2471-495d-9d89-a8d0cff3dc10">Putting limits on chemical exposure</h2>This same team of researchers previously published a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28893723/">study</a> that found government regulations aren't doing much to prevent chemical exposure.While there are some existing rules — such as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/epa-hazardous-forever-chemicals-drinking-water-limits-2024-4">limits on PFAs in drinking water</a> — legislation is slow to keep up with the latest science, and sometimes too vague to enforce. Plus, there's so much we don't know about potential risks of chemicals that haven't been studied as closely.The new study is one crucial step in understanding how chemicals in our environment (and in our food) could affect our health long-term, and how we might be able to reduce the risks in the future."This work highlights the fact that food contact materials are not fully safe, even though they may comply with regulations, because they transfer known hazardous chemicals into people," Jane Muncke, senior author of the study, environmental toxicology expert, and managing director at the Food Packaging Forum, said in a press release."We would like this new evidence base to be used for improving the safety of food contact materials — both in terms of regulations but also in the development of safer alternatives," Muncke said.

Food packaging chemicals are seeping into human bodies — here's what that means for your health

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists found new clues about one of the last living Neanderthals.</li><li>By sequencing the DNA from one of the Neanderthal's teeth, they discovered a completely new lineage.</li></ul>Scientists are one step closer to solving the mystery of humanity's last great extinction: why the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neanderthals-virus-herpes-hpv-caught-from-humans-may-helped-extinction-2024-6">Neanderthals died off</a>.The Neanderthals are our <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/when-humans-neanderthals-had-sex-interbred-dna-2024-6">closest ancient human relatives</a>. But around 40,000 years ago, the last of them mysteriously disappeared.Now, a recent study that analyzed the DNA from one of the last of these ancient humans is giving scientists clues about <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neanderthals-extinct-humans-naked-neanderthal-book-2024-2">why they vanished</a> while modern humans continued to thrive.<h2 id="0ac3e680-c75c-45de-8846-f00dd3b811c3">The mystery around one of the last Neanderthals</h2><div type="image" title="A man in a vest wearing gloves holds Neanderthal teeth" height="3712" width="5568" msid="113681188" hostid="261" sizebytes="210758"></div>Tens of thousands of years ago, a Neanderthal nicknamed Thorin lived in southeastern France, not long before his species went extinct.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/40000-year-bone-hints-humans-neanderthals-shared-cave-culture-2023-8">His remains</a> were first discovered in 2015 and sparked a debate between archaeologists, who dated him to between 50,000 to 42,000 years old, and geneticists, who insisted his DNA showed he was closer to 100,000 years old.The discrepancy launched a seven-year investigation, culminating in a recent study in which geneticists looked at a handful of Neanderthals' DNA from around the world and compared them to Thorin's DNA, starting with the assumption that he was 50,000 years old instead of 100,000."At this time, the geneticists decided to calibrate their own tools and to change everything we knew about all Neanderthals," archaeologist Ludovic Slimak, lead author on the new study published in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cell.com/cell-genomics/fulltext/S2666-979X(24)00177-0">Cell Genomics</a>, told Business Insider. Namely, that they were all a part of a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/some-more-neanderthal-dna-others-scientists-why-2023-10">single homogenous population</a>.Because of how different his DNA was from Neanderthals closer to his age, the researchers realized that Thorin must have belonged to a completely new Neanderthal lineage. They estimated his ancestors' line had split around 103,000 years ago.This explained why Thorin's DNA seemed so much more ancient than his bones. His DNA resembles Neanderthals who lived over 100,000 years ago, but Thorin was 50,000 years younger, according to the recent study.What could have caused this genetic split? The researchers suspect that Thorin lived in an isolated community that had little to no contact with other groups from the time they diverged until Thorin's death.That means, people within the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-interbreeding-between-humans-and-neanderthals-affects-our-health-today-2023-6">community reproduced amongst themselves</a> for more than 50,000 years, spawning a unique lineage distinct from other Neanderthal groups, according to the researchers.As you can imagine, a community isolated for that long will inevitably lead to inbreeding, and the researchers did indeed find evidence of that in Thorin's DNA.The community's isolation also helps explain why Thorin was among the last of the Neanderthals. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/science-marry-your-cousin-safe-genetics-2018-7">Inbreeding leads to a lack of genetic diversity</a>, which can make populations more vulnerable to disease, harmful mutations, and environmental changes.While one isolated community can't speak for an entire species, it can point to a key behavior that sheds new light on why these human relatives died out."We have this incredible extinction, which is the last great extinction of humanity," Slimak said.<h2 id="ec65f9ab-25b6-4918-93fd-5d996ad2f4d7">Neanderthals kept to themselves, which could help explain their extinction</h2><div type="image" title="Two Neanderthal skeletons on display at The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History" height="1585" width="2003" msid="113681184" hostid="261" sizebytes="198430"></div>Thorin's community wasn't isolated because of geography. They were <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/mental-health/antisocial-personality-disorder">isolated because they chose to be</a>, Slimak said. "We're facing a border, a social border," he said.In fact, other Neanderthals lived just a couple weeks' walk from Thorin's in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0277379121004480">Massif Central</a> around the same time.If Thorin's relatives did ignore their Neanderthal neighbors, that means <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/modern-loneliness">the group's isolation</a> wasn't only genetic but was also cultural and social, Slimak said."It's something very important and very central to understanding what was this population and, at the end, why and how they disappeared and they died out," Slimak said.While isolation may have worked for Thorins' ancestors for millennia, eventually their luck ran out. "Their little social network just collapsed onto themselves and just died in a whisper," Slimak said.<h2 id="6978ad0c-08c3-4f1e-9816-babb68840ad5">Modern humans' large social networks may have helped them survive</h2><div type="image" title="A model showing a Neanderthal family near a fire." height="2232" width="3968" msid="113681187" hostid="261" sizebytes="511650"></div>How universal this isolationist behavior among Neanderthals was is unclear. If resources in the area were scarce, the Neanderthals may have started becoming more insular to protect their own group."Maybe this idea that one group kept to themselves maybe is not so crazy in that kind of competitive environment," said April Nowell, a Paleolithic archaeologist with the University of Victoria who was not involved with the study.As Neanderthals' numbers dwindled, maintaining smaller and smaller groups would have put their future at risk whenever a family member died.Many experts <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=0dda9b208d7c44ccdb961bdb9c9a45661653c52f24e70106524b9f8725031266&amp;postID=66f340a28d7e7259bc9488b4&amp;postSlug=last-neanderthal-thorin-unique-dna-help-explain-species-extinction-2024-9&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41598-021-84410-7">believe</a> that Neanderthals' small group sizes led to their extinction, which would have made them vulnerable even without added stressors like increased competition from humans. Meanwhile, modern humans didn't seem to have had the same tendency to form insular communities. Instead, they traveled far and wide and formed large social networks, Slimak said."We see modern human populations that seem to have these wider social networks and are exchanging genes with potential mates on a wider geographical region," Nowell said.Modern human groups were expanding and becoming more genetically diverse. That made them better equipped to handle any sort of accident or natural disaster, Nowell said.On the other hand, with smaller Neanderthal populations, even losing a handful of breeding-age individuals impacts future generations, she said."I really do think that the genetic isolation is telling us something interesting about Neanderthals and their challenges and eventually their extinction," Nowell said.

Scientists discovered a unique line of Neanderthals and it's helping solve the mystery of humanity's last great extinction

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Neanderthals may have caught the same viruses that cause modern colds, cold sores, and some cancers.</li><li>It's possible ancient <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/40000-year-bone-hints-humans-neanderthals-shared-cave-culture-2023-8">humans introduced</a> these unfamiliar viruses to their relatives.</li></ul>Neanderthals may have suffered from some <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-interbreeding-between-humans-and-neanderthals-affects-our-health-today-2023-6">very familiar diseases</a> 50,000 years ago, which could have contributed to their downfall.Researchers studying <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/some-more-neanderthal-dna-others-scientists-why-2023-10">ancient Neanderthal DNA</a> found traces of three viruses that cause colds, cold sores, genital warts, and cancer.And ancient humans might have been the ones who started spreading these bugs, according to the scientists who recently published their work in the peer-reviewed journal "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/16/6/856">Viruses</a>."Most Neanderthal experts think the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neanderthals-extinct-humans-naked-neanderthal-book-2024-2">species went extinct</a> due to various causes, from changing climate to low fertility rates to human interactions. Trying to recover from illnesses — especially unfamiliar ones introduced by distant cousins — likely wouldn't have helped.Poor health from "these types of infections can have a negative impact when you are competing with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neanderthals-humans-belong-to-same-species-could-rewrite-history-evolution-2023-12">another species</a>," Marcelo Briones, one of the researchers who found the viruses, told Business Insider via email.Not only could these ancient viruses contribute to our understanding of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/neanderthal-genes-linked-to-severe-cases-of-covid-19-coronavirus-2023-9">Neanderthals' extinction</a>, but they might help us learn more about the modern versions still infecting humans today.<h2 id="aee8236b-0769-4c5c-a591-19f53ea5b020">Siberian bones with ancient viruses</h2><div type="image" title="A skull of a Neanderthal is seen in the foreground, the cast is partial, and missing bits of the skull are filled in. The skull is displayed in a museum, a person is seen in the background looking at the skulls." height="1217" width="2000" msid="110774278" hostid="261" sizebytes="92106"></div>About 54,000 years ago, a small <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2022/october/siberian-remains-could-represent-first-known-neanderthal-community.html">community</a> of Neanderthals lived in Chagyrskaya Cave in Southern Siberia.Briones and his colleagues studied the sequenced DNA data of two Neanderthals from the cave — an adult male and a boy — to look for evidence of three viruses they thought might have contributed to the species' extinction: adenovirus, herpesvirus, and papillomavirus.The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/health/conditions-symptoms/adenovirus-symptoms-infection-treatment-causes">adenovirus can cause</a> respiratory infections like colds or flu, while herpesviruses can cause cold sores or genital warts, depending on the type. Some cancers, like cervical cancer, are linked to the papillomavirus.This isn't the first time researchers have found inert (no longer infectious) <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scientists-sequence-ancient-herpes-dna-for-the-first-time-2022-7">ancient human viruses</a>. A 2021 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.06.28.450199v1.full">study</a> documented the discovery of adenovirus in 31,600-year-old human teeth from Siberia.The adenovirus, herpesvirus, and papillomavirus found in this more-recent study are nearly 50,000 years old, according to the researchers — 20,000 years older than the adenovirus found in the Siberian teeth.That's around the time some experts <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=3adac6a2c6dc245e01370bc8c7abbfffdd025aba41c57593fdfe7271f0db9314&amp;postID=665a3831074e87bb00e7b5b5&amp;postSlug=neanderthals-virus-herpes-hpv-caught-from-humans-may-helped-extinction-2024-6&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41586-021-03335-3">estimate</a> humans and Neanderthals interbred, between 60,000 and 50,000 years ago. In addition to swapping DNA, humans and Neanderthals probably <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(18)31095-X">passed around</a> diseases.It's not clear if newly introduced viruses would have caused the same symptoms in Neanderthals that they do in present-day humans. While infections likely induced an immune response, it's difficult to tell how severe resulting illnesses would have been, Briones said.One 2016 study <a target="_blank" href="https://www.mpg.de/9819763/neanderthal-genes-immune-system">suggested</a> interbreeding with Neanderthals may have boosted humans' immunity to previously unknown diseases. However, the Neanderthals may have been less lucky."A cold does not have to be fatal to decrease hunting efficiency or reproductive ability," Briones said. With an already small population, getting sick with new illnesses might have contributed to Neanderthals' extinction <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-60305218">roughly</a> 40,000 years ago.<h2 id="f874156d-c1cf-4887-a987-fb47bf6b4f78">The difficulty with ancient DNA</h2>Learning more about how these ancient diseases have changed over tens of thousands of years could shed light on how they affect modern humans.Some viruses never leave your body. "They have a huge impact on human health because they are long-lived infections," said Sasha Tabachnikova, a PhD candidate studying herpesvirus at Yale School of Medicine. Recent research has <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/study-suggests-epstein-barr-virus-may-cause-multiple-sclerosis">linked</a> Epstein-Barr — a type of herpesvirus — <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mono-shot-possible-cure-ms-2023-3">with multiple sclerosis</a>, for example.Tabachnikova, who wasn't involved in the paper, is excited about the possibility of studying how an ancient virus has evolved since the Neanderthals' era. But that type of research is likely a ways off.Ancient DNA is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3685887/">tricky</a> to work with. It degrades and breaks into short <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=69f6ace98b50c5d0e73abc5a93a60ead0c463790ac4d848440e2a171cc19db73&amp;postID=665a3831074e87bb00e7b5b5&amp;postSlug=neanderthals-virus-herpes-hpv-caught-from-humans-may-helped-extinction-2024-6&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fs41596-018-0050-5">fragments</a>. The longer a sequence of DNA is, the easier it is to identify."When the sequence is too short, you will find them everywhere, in all types of genomes," Diyendo Massilani, an assistant professor of genetics at Yale, said. That can lead to misinterpretations in the data.Viruses already have shorter DNA strands than humans do. That means tools used to study ancient human DNA might not work for viruses, Sally Wasef, a paleogenetics researcher at Queensland University of Technology, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2430389-oldest-known-human-viruses-found-hidden-within-neanderthal-bones/">told New Scientist</a>.Massilani also had some concerns with how the researchers were interpreting the ancient DNA. "They probably have a good idea," he said, but they need to adjust some of their methods to strengthen their results.Briones said he and his colleagues plan to do more research to confirm their findings.

Scientists discovered 50,000-year-old viruses in Neanderthal DNA that could help explain their mysterious extinction

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Scientists at Auburn University injected alligator DNA into farm-raised catfish. </li><li>The scientists found that the fish were more resistant to disease and less likely to reproduce. </li></ul><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oijEsqT2QKQ&amp;ab_channel=RottenTomatoesComingSoon" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Life finds a way:</a> Geneticists have created disease-resistant catfish using alligator DNA — and they may one day become a part of our diet.A group of scientists at Auburn University <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.05.522889v1.full.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published a paper</a> in January detailing their efforts to genetically modify catfish with the cathelicidin gene of an alligator.Cathelicidin, found in the intestines, is an antimicrobial peptide responsible for helping <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/immunology-and-microbiology/cathelicidin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">organisms fight diseases.</a>The gene, which was added using CRISPR, heightened disease resistance among the catfish in comparison to wild catfish. Researchers noted that the survival rates of the catfish were "two- and five-fold higher" in an interview with <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/19/1067092/crispr-alligator-gene-catfish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MIT Technology Review.</a>Because researchers added the cathelicidin to a gene for a reproductive hormone, it also reduced the catfish's ability to reproduce, which they said was important to prevent genetic contamination of the hybrid fish with wild catfish. The authors noted some uncertainties in using CRISPR technology — primarily used and studied in mammals— on fish. The paper has not yet been peer-reviewed.However, researchers hope that the alligator and catfish gene-editing can be used in tandem with other catfish breeding techniques to help farmers with their catfish yields.In 2021, an estimated 307 million pounds of live catfish <a href="https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/farm-management/us-farm-raised-catfish-industry-2021-review-and-2022-outlook/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were produced in the US</a>, primarily in the south. Catfish make up <a href="https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Highlights/2019/2017Census_Aquaculture_in_2018.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over 50% of US demand for farm-raised fish.</a> The process of farming them is resource-intensive. Diseases spread among catfish due to lack of space on the farms where they're raised. Around <a href="http://extension.msstate.edu/content/diseases-catfish" target="_blank" rel="noopener">45% of catfish fingerlings die</a> as a result of infectious diseases. Fish in general are also becoming <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikescott/2019/06/17/fish-farms-face-threats-to-growth-prospects-from-climate-change-and-antibiotics-overuse/?sh=3fc4656329fc" target="_blank" rel="noopener">less resistant to antibiotics.</a>Although consumers may be uncomfortable with the idea of their catfish sharing DNA with an alligator, Rex Dunham and Baofeng Su, two of the lead researchers of the study, told MTR that the hybrid meat would be perfectly safe. "I would eat it in a heartbeat," Dunham told MTR.

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