A preference for pairings between male Neanderthals and female Homo sapiens may answer the question of why there are "Neanderthal deserts" in human chromosomes.

When the two species got together tens of thousands of years ago, the hookups may have often involved a male Neanderthal and a female human, according to a new study. The findings, described February ...

When Homo sapiens trekked out of Africa, our species encountered Neanderthal populations already inhabiting the vast expanses of Europe, Asia and the Middle East. As the presence of Neanderthal DNA in ...

Modern humans may indeed have wiped out Neanderthals – but not through war or murder alone. A new study suggests that when the two species interbred, a slow-acting genetic incompatibility increased ...

The human genome is a rich, complex record of migration, encounters, and inheritance written over thousands of millennia.

Most people of non-African ancestry carry about 2% Neanderthal DNA, and researchers report a mirror image pattern with more human DNA on the Neanderthal X chromosome.

Homo sapiens and Neanderthals were probably interbreeding over a huge area stretching from western Europe into Asia. It was thought that this probably happened in the eastern Mediterranean region, but ...

Long before factories, mines, and cars filled the air with pollution, our distant ancestors were already living with a silent toxin: lead. A groundbreaking study reveals that hominids — from early ...

Neanderthals died out some 30,000 years ago, but their genes live on within many of us. African people have very little Neanderthal DNA because their ancestors didn't make the trip through Eurasia, ...

Currently, there are several hypotheses surrounding the disappearance of Neanderthals. While they all have at least some scientific support, researchers can't agree on which—or which combination—is ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Alysson Muotri, Ph.D. Lead exposure shaped human evolution, influencing brain development and the rise of language. (CREDIT: Kyle ...