Modern human faces are surprisingly delicate compared with the jutting jaws and broad noses of our closest extinct cousins. The contrast is not just cosmetic, it reflects deep differences in growth, ...

Research conducted at the Department of Biology, University of Padova, has identified critical genomic milestones in the evolution of Homo sapiens, including key chromosomal rearrangements and ...

In 2010, the first draft of the Neanderthal genome was published 1, and comparisons with modern human genomes revealed that Neanderthal and modern humans had interbred in the past. Later that year, ...

Not every modern human has the same set of Neanderthal DNA, however; different people will, by chance, have inherited different fragments. But there are also some areas, termed “Neanderthal deserts,” ...

Modern humans and Neanderthals shared a common ancestor, lived side by side in parts of Eurasia, and even had children together, yet their faces ended up strikingly different. The contrast between our ...