Neanderthals May Have Been More Sensitive to Pain Than Most Humans by Alex Fox/Smithsonianmag.com A new study of Neanderthal DNA suggests our species’ extinct relatives may have been particularly sensitive to pain, reports Ewen Callaway for Nature. Neanderthals disappeared some 40,000 years ago, but some humans living today retain bits of Neanderthal DNA—evidence that our species once interbred. Though they hunted large, dangerous animals—including bison, mammoths and cave bears—in frigid climes, Neanderthals may be the source of a genetic variant associated with increased sensitivity to pain in modern humans, according to the new research published last week in the journal Current Biology. Researchers looking to compare Neanderthals’ DNA to modern […]
Neanderthals
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Humans and Neanderthals May Have Overlapped in Europe Longer Than Previously Thought by Alex Fox/Smithsonianmag.com Modern humans overlapped with Neanderthals in Europe for longer than previously thought, according to new research. Remains of Homo sapiens found in a Bulgarian cave are roughly 44,000 to 46,000 years old, making them the oldest directly dated remains of modern humans in Europe, reports Bruce Bower for Science News. Neanderthals were stocky, cold-adapted hominins who lived throughout Europe and as far east as Siberia until around 40,000 years ago, reports Nicola Davis for the Guardian. Traces of Neanderthals live on in modern human DNA, suggesting that our species and theirs met and […]