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Neanderthals Interbred with Now-Extinct Lineage of Early Modern Humans Over 250,000 Years Ago

Comparisons of Neanderthal genomes to anatomically modern human (AMH) genomes show a history of Neanderthal-to-AMH introgression stemming from interbreeding after the migration of AMHs from Africa to Eurasia. All non-sub-Saharan African AMHs have genomic regions genetically similar to Neanderthals that descend from this introgression. Regions of the genome with Neanderthal similarities have also been identified in sub-Saharan African populations, but their origins have been unclear. To better understand how these regions are distributed across sub-Saharan Africa, the source of their origin, and what their distribution within the genome tells us about early AMH and Neanderthal evolution, Harris et al. analyzed a dataset of high-coverage, whole-genome sequences from 180 individuals from 12 diverse sub-Saharan African populations. Image credit: Holger Neumann / Neanderthal Museum.
Oct 20, 2023 by News Staff

Approximately 6% of the Altai Neanderthal genome was inherited from an ancient lineage of anatomically modern Homo sapiens that migrated from Africa to Eurasia over 250,000 years ago, according to new research led by the University of Pennsylvania. Comparisons of Neanderthal genomes to anatomically modern human (AMH) genomes show a history of Neanderthal-to-AMH introgression stemming from interbreeding after the migration of AMHs from Africa to Eurasia....

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This artist’s impression illustrates the path of FRB 20220610A, from a group of distant galaxies where it originated all the way to Earth, in one of the Milky Way’s spiral arms. Image credit: M. Kornmesser / ESO.

Astronomers Discover Farthest Fast Radio Burst Yet

Oct 20, 2023 by News Staff

Fast radio bursts (FRBs) are millisecond-duration pulses of radio emission originating from extragalactic sources. An international team of astronomers...

This Webb image of Jupiter shows stunning details of the majestic planet in infrared light. In this image, brightness indicates high altitude. The numerous bright white ‘spots’ and ‘streaks’ are likely very high-altitude cloud tops of condensed convective storms. Aurorae, appearing in red in this image, extend to higher altitudes above both the northern and southern poles of the planet. By contrast, dark ribbons north of the equatorial region have little cloud cover. Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / STScI / Ricardo Hueso, UPV / Imke de Pater, UC Berkeley / Thierry Fouchet, Observatory of Paris / Leigh Fletcher, University of Leicester / Michael H. Wong, UC Berkeley / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Webb Spots High-Speed Equatorial Jet in Jupiter’s Stratosphere

Oct 19, 2023 by News Staff

The newly-discovered intense (140 m/s) jet is confined to ±3° of Jupiter’s equator, is approximately 4,800 km wide, and is located in the gas giant’s...

Optical mosaics of 42 galaxies from the SGA-2020 sorted by increasing angular diameter from the top-left to the bottom-right. Galaxies are chosen randomly from a uniform (flat) probability distribution in angular diameter. The horizontal white bar in the lower-left corner of each panel represents 1 arcminute and the mosaic cutouts range from 3.2 to 13.4 arcminutes. This figure illustrates the tremendous range of types, sizes, colors and surface brightness profiles, internal structure, and environments of the galaxies in the SGA. Image credit: CTIO / NOIRLab / DOE / NSF / AURA / J. Moustakas.

Astronomers Create Detailed Atlas of Over 380,000 Galaxies

Oct 19, 2023 by News Staff

The Siena Galaxy Atlas (SGA) is a compilation of data from three surveys completed between 2014 and 2017 known as the DESI Legacy Surveys, which were carried...

Reconstruction of Pierolapithecus catalaunicus (Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont)

Scientists Reconstruct Skull of Pierolapithecus catalaunicus

Oct 17, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Pierolapithecus catalaunicus is an extinct species of great ape that lived in what is now Europe about 12 million years ago. A remarkably complete, although...

A Macrospondylus bollensis mother keeps a watchful eye on her young. Image credit: Henry Sutherland Sharpe.

New Research Sheds Light on Enigmatic Jurassic Crocodile Relatives

Oct 17, 2023 by News Staff

In a study published in the journal Papers in Palaeontology, paleontologists from the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart investigated growth rates...

The slaty-backed nightingale-thrush (Catharus fuscater) in Costa Rica. Image credit: Simon Pierre Barrette / CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed.

Cryptic New Bird Species Identified in Panama

Oct 16, 2023 by Natali Anderson

In new research, ornithologists from Drexel University, the Delaware Museum of Nature & Science, and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture conducted...

The Paleolithic settlement at Abu Hureyra in what is now Syria may have been destroyed 12,800 years ago because of a comet. Image credit: Jennifer Rice, Comet Research Group.

Comet Airburst Initiated Transition to Agriculture 12,800 Years Ago, Scientists Say

Oct 16, 2023 by News Staff

Around 12,800 years ago, Earth collided with fragments of a disintegrating comet, triggering Younger Dryas climate change; this event created environmental...

Life reconstruction of Strigilodus tollesonae. Image credit: Benji Paysnoe.

Paleontologists Discover New Species of Ancient Petal-Toothed Shark

Oct 16, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

A new genus and species of petalodont (petal-toothed) shark has been identified from fossilized teeth found in cave passages of Mammoth Cave National Park...

Frontal view of the portrait of Homo heidelbergensis from Petralona, Greece, with hair and skin pigmentation. Image credit: Aidonis et al., doi: 10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104206.

Anthropologists Reconstruct Face of Homo heidelbergensis

Oct 13, 2023 by Sergio Prostak

Anthropologists in Greece have used facial reconstruction techniques to show how Homo heidelbergensis, a poorly understood relative of Neanderthals that...

Reconstruction of Anachlysictis gracilis stalking some rodents (Neoreomys huilensis) in the La Venta area during Middle Miocene. Image credit: Juan Giraldo.

Exceptional Fossil of Saber-Toothed Marsupial Relative Unearthed in Colombia

Oct 13, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

The new fossil material belonging to Anachlysictis gracilis, including an almost complete specimen consisting of a nicely preserved skull and postcranial...

Neanderthals butchering the freshly killed cave lion from Siegsdorf, Germany. Image credit: Julio Lacerda / NLD.

Neanderthals Were Hunting Cave Lions 48,000 Years Ago

Oct 12, 2023 by News Staff

During the Upper Paleolithic, lions become an important theme in Paleolithic art and are more frequent in anthropogenic faunal assemblages. However, the...

Analyzing high-density genotype data from 7,594 Latin Americans, Faux et al. characterized Neanderthal introgression in the SCN9A gene. Image credit: Holger Neumann / Neanderthal Museum.

Study: Neanderthals May Have Been More Sensitive to Mechanical Pain than Most Humans

Oct 12, 2023 by News Staff

People carrying three Neanderthal variants — known as M932L, V991L, and D1908G — in the gene SCN9A are more sensitive to pain from skin pricking...

A view of the outside of the OSIRIS-REx sample collector. Sample material from asteroid Bennu can be seen on the middle right. Image credit: NASA / Erika Blumenfeld / Joseph Aebersold.

Sample Material from Asteroid Bennu Contains Carbon and Water, NASA Scientists Say

Oct 11, 2023 by News Staff

The sample was collected by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security, Regolith Explorer) spacecraft...

Space weather from the Sun, such as coronal mass ejections, disturbs Earth’s magnetic field, causing the aurorae and potentially decreasing the magnetic field’s reliability for migrating birds. Image credit: John Megahan.

Severe Space Weather Events Disrupt Nocturnal Bird Migrations, Researchers Find

Oct 11, 2023 by News Staff

Earth’s magnetic field is occasionally but regularly impacted by bursts of energy from the Sun (space weather), such as coronal mass ejections. Birds...

Tomiyamichthys elliotensis, underwater photograph, approx. 5 cm in length, Lady Elliot Island, Queensland, Australia. Image credit: M.V. Erdmann.

New Species of Shrimpgoby Discovered at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

Oct 10, 2023 by Natali Anderson

The newly-discovered species of gobiid fish, Tomiyamichthys elliotensis (common name is the Lady Elliot shrimp goby), is currently known only from Lady...

Monumental round-oval buildings with their characteristic T-shaped monolithic pillars at Göbekli Tepe, Turkey. Image credit: Nico Becker, Göbekli Tepe Archive, German Archaeological Institute.

11,000-Year-Old Painted Statue of Wild Boar Unearthed at Gobekli Tepe

Oct 9, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Archaeologists in Türkiye (Turkey) have unearthed several ancient statues, including a life-size statue of a wild boar, at Göbekli Tepe, a Neolithic...

An artist’s illustration of a solar storm. Image credit: NASA.

Extreme Solar Storm Hit Our Planet 14,300 Years Ago, Subfossil Tree-Rings Show

Oct 9, 2023 by News Staff

In new research, scientists from the University of Leeds and elsewhere measured radiocarbon levels in ancient trees preserved within the eroded banks of...

Feather-tailed possums (Distoechurus pennatus).

Paleontologists Describe Four New Fossil Species of Feathertail Possums

Oct 9, 2023 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists have identified four new fossil feathertail possum species (family Acrobatidae) from the fossilized specimens found in the Late Oligocene...

Rionegrina pozosaladensis. Image credit: Melchor et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-43771-x.

First-Ever Terror Bird Footprints Discovered

Oct 5, 2023 by Natali Anderson

For the first time, footprints made by an extinct terror bird (family Phorusrhacidae) have been identified by paleontologists. Holotype trackway of Rionegrina...

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