During the Neolithic period of the eastern Maghrib, the foragers had high continuity of their ancestry
Researchers have used old mitochondrial DNA from archaeological sites in the Middle East to reconstruct the identity of the ‘Afalous’, a group of Paleolithic humans. They claim that the ‘Afalous’ and their descendants are the first ancestors of humans to settle in the southern Mediterranean region. They also claim to have established a direct connection between the ‘Afalous’ and the Neanderthals.
Did the human gene make mice squeak differently?
Scientists have discovered that a human version of the NOVA1 gene is present in nearly every human on Earth. The variant is different from Neanderthals and another extinct human group called Denisovans, as well as other mammals. Researchers used CRISPR gene editing to engineer mice carrying the human version of NOVA1 to study the effects of the change.