March 11, 2011
by Mike Macpherson, Shirley Wu, and Joanna Mountain A young Hadza hunter From just flecks of bone and specks of DNA, scientists have been able to piece together a story of the origin of our species. That story, by most accounts, begins in eastern Africa 100-200,000 years ago. After all, multiple lines of [...]
December 22, 2008
In the world of genetic anthropology, mitochondrial DNA and the Y-chromosome are the major players. They are regions of our genome scientists use most frequently when tracing both ancient and historical human migrations, and are an important tool for genealogists using DNA to piece together their family [...]
July 15, 2008
(Ed: Newer research suggests that Homo sapiens and Neanderthals did in fact interbreed. On average, two to four percent of DNA in present-day humans who trace their ancestry from Europe or Asia comes from our Neanderthal cousins. 23andMe customers can check out their own Neanderthal ancestry here! -- [...]
July 3, 2008
Last month I had the opportunity to go to the Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution conference in the striking city of Barcelona. This is the premiere conference for geneticists studying evolution in everything from bacteria to fruit flies, weeds, worms and our favorite model organism, humans! This is a [...]
