For decades, large stretches of human DNA were dismissed as "junk" and considered to serve no real purpose. In a new study published in Cell Genomics, researchers at Lund University in Sweden show...

A “genetic sandwich” reveals how a block of DNA entered several populations successively and was affected by natural selection.

Researchers have dated the mysterious skull from Petralona Cave in Greece to 300,000 years ago and concluded that the fossil belonged to an ancient human group that lived alongside Neanderthals.

New research suggests dingoes are distinct enough to have their own scientific name. If this is accepted, it will have far-reaching consequences

This study investigates whether endocranial size reflects brain volume in humans using MRIs of 75 living individuals. We measured the actual volume of an individual’s brain, and the volume and...

Neanderthals and Denisovans passed along gene that provides a sticky shield against germs

The long read: When fossilised remains were discovered in the Djurab desert in 2001, they were hailed as radically rewriting the history of our species. But not everyone was convinced – and the...

Washing waste from the brain is an essential function of sleep—and it could help ward off dementia

A gene called ASDL, which helps synthesize DNA, differs between modern humans and our extinct human relatives. The findings could shed light on why Neanderthals vanished.

Some 2.6-million-year-old teeth found in Ethiopia hint that an unknown species from the Australopithecus genus coexisted with one of our Homo relatives, but it is hard to draw firm conclusions from...

A University of Florence–led team reports early Eurasian evidence of artificial cranial modification (ACM) in a Late Upper Paleolithic individual from Arene Candide Cave, Italy. Shape analyses place...

Scientists say the teeth belonged to a type of Australopithecus, a relative of Lucy’s species, that coexisted with our genus, Homo