People of European descent evolved resistance to TB over 10,000 years

Analysis of ancient DNA shows that a genetic variant that increases susceptibility to tuberculosis has drastically decreased in Europe since the Bronze Age Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2270136-people-of-european-descent-evolved-resistance-to-tb-over-10000-years/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Social life of extinct sabre-toothed cat revealed by ancient DNA

Homotherium, a sabre-toothed cat that lived in the Americas and Eurasia during the most recent ice age, was a swift and social predator, according to its genes Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2257509-social-life-of-extinct-sabre-toothed-cat-revealed-by-ancient-dna/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

Possible Dinosaur DNA Has Been Found

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Scientific American: The tiny fossil is unassuming, as dinosaur remains go. It is not as big as an Apatosaurus femur or as impressive as a Tyrannosaurus jaw. The object is a just a scant shard of cartilage from the skull of a baby hadrosaur called Hypacrosaurus that perished more than 70 million years ago….

New Neanderthal bones found at famous Shanidar Cave

The newly found bones were close to the site of the famous ‘flower burial’ in Shanidar Cave, which overturned notions of Neanderthals as brutish subhumans and suggested they buried their dead. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/new_neanderthal_bones_shanidar_cave…

Did early humans in Africa interbreed with a mysterious, extinct species?

New research suggests that early humans in Africa interbred with a ghost population that likely split from the ancestors of humans and Neanderthals between 360,000 and 1.02 million years ago. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/early-humans-africa-interbred-with-extinct-species…

Twenty years of discoveries changing story of human evolution

Archaeological discoveries are happening faster than ever before, helping refine the human story. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/archaeological-discoveries-changing-story-of-human-evolution…

DNA From ‘Chewing Gum’ Provides Clues To Life 5,700 Years Ago

New submitter RG-man writes: DNA obtained from birch pitch used as a type of ancient chewing gum has revealed significant insights into the life of a young girl who lived 5,700 years ago. CNN reports: “…[Lola] chewed on birch pitch, a material that functioned a bit like an ancient chewing gum. A study of that birch pitch has uncovered the girl’s…