Scienceblogtwo

Iosif Lazaridis, David Reich, and colleagues give a thorough genetic history of the so-called "Southern Arc," an area that spans southern Europe and Western Asia and has long been regarded as the "cradle of Western civilisation." A complex population history from the earliest farming civilizations through post-Medieval times is shown in the investigation, which looked at newly sequenced ancient DNA from more than 700 people in the region. Most of the stories of the people and populations of the Southern Arc's ancient past have, up until very recently, been told through archaeological findings and the thousands of years' worth of local historical chronicles and manuscripts. However, advancements in the sequencing of ancient DNA have given rise to a brand-new reservoir of historical data. Lazaridis et al. construct a thorough genetic history of the Southern Arc from the Neolithic (about 10,000 BCE) to the Ottoman period (around 1700 CE) using ancient DNA from ...

Researchers have long been motivated by the query of what distinguishes contemporary humans from earlier species. The Neanderthals, our nearest living ancestors, offer fascinating insights in this regard. The expansion of the brain and the synthesis of new neurons throughout brain development are thought to be key contributors to the evolution of higher cognitive functions in humans. Although modern humans and Neanderthals both have brains of a similar size, little is known about whether the creation of neurons in modern human and Neanderthal brains throughout development may have varied. The protein TKTL1, which differs from the Neanderthal variant only by one amino acid, is now known to increase basal radial glia, a type of brain progenitor cell, in the modern human brain, according to research from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden. The bulk of the neurons in the growing neocortex, an area of the brain essential for many cognitive f...

The Sun and people have a tumultuous connection. People enjoy the sun, but they also become hot. Your eyeballs sweat into them. Then there are all the rituals associated with protection: sunscreen, hats, and sunglasses. Your skin will react angrily with a sunburn if you are out in the sun for too long or haven't done enough safety measures. Heat comes first, followed by pain and then regret. Was the fear of what the Sun will do to one's body always as intense? I can tell you the quick answer is "no," and they didn't need to be, as a biological anthropologist who has researched how monkeys adapt to their surroundings. Skin has withstood the Sun for ages. Between you and the world, Skin                                                                               Humans developed in the Sun's...