Genetics News

Ancient Parrot DNA Points to Pre-Inca Animal Trade

A pair of scarlet macaws (Ara macao) in Costa Rica. Image credit: Julio-César Chávez / CC BY 4.0.
Mar 10, 2026 by News Staff

Ancient DNA from brightly colored feathers found in Peru shows that at least four distinct species of Amazonian parrots — the scarlet macaw (Ara macao), the blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna), the red-and-green macaw (Ara chloropterus) and mealy amazon (Amazona farinosa) — were transported alive over the Andes centuries before the Inca Empire, evidence of sophisticated long-distance exchange linking Amazonia, highland passes and Pacific...

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Neanderthals. Image credit: Gemini AI.

Study: Ancient Mating Preferences Helped Shape Human Genome

Mar 2, 2026 by News Staff

Prehistoric humans and Neanderthals didn’t just interbreed, they did so with a consistent sex bias, as male Neanderthals and female modern humans mated...

Cave lions painted in the Chauvet Cave, France.

Japanese Archipelago Was Once a Refuge for Cave Lions

Feb 13, 2026 by Sergio Prostak

Between 73,000 and 20,000 years ago (Late Pleistocene), the Japanese Archipelago was inhabited by cave lions (Panthera spelaea), according to a new genetic...

This image depicts a Pleistocene landscape in northern Spain with woolly mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius), a woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis), and European cave lions (Panthera leo spelaea) with a reindeer carcass. Image credit: Mauricio Antón.

14,400-Year-Old Woolly Rhinoceros Genome Shows No Evidence of Recent Inbreeding

Jan 14, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

The woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) is a cold-adapted herbivore that went extinct around 14,000 years ago, but little is known about their...

An artist’s concept of a Penghu Denisovan walking under the bright Sun during the Pleistocene of Taiwan. Image credit: Cheng-Han Sun.

Researchers Sequence Genome of 200,000-Year-Old Denisovan

Jan 2, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

A research team led by Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology scientists has generated the high-quality genome assembly of a Denisovan using...

The facial depiction of the Beachy Head Woman. Image credit: Face Lab, Liverpool John Moores University.

‘Beachy Head Woman’ Originated from Southern England, Ancient DNA Study Shows

Dec 23, 2025 by News Staff

The skeletal remains of an individual colloquially referred to as Beachy Head Woman were re-discovered in the Eastbourne Town Hall collection in 2012,...

Mármol-Sánchez et al. found ancient RNA molecules in Late Pleistocene woolly mammoth tissues. Image credit: Mármol-Sánchez et al., doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.10.025.

RNA Molecules Found Preserved in 39,000-Year-Old Woolly Mammoth Tissues

Dec 3, 2025 by News Staff

Scientists have successfully extracted and sequenced ancient RNA from permafrost-preserved tissues of 10 woolly mammoths. One of these, dated to be 39,000...

The genomes of ancient cats from archaeological sites across Europe and Anatolia (circles in the map) revealed that domestic cats were introduced to Europe from North Africa starting at 2,000 years ago, several millennia after the onset of the Neolithic in Europe; African wildcats in Sardinia originate from a distinct wildcat population in Northwest Africa. Image credit: De Martino et al., doi: 10.1126/science.adt2642.

Domestic Cats Were Introduced to Europe around 2,000 Years Ago, Probably from North Africa: Study

Nov 28, 2025 by News Staff

The domestic cat (Felis catus) descends from the African wildcat (Felis lybica lybica). Its global distribution alongside humans testifies to its successful...

The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis sp.) is one of the most enigmatic animals of the deep sea. Image credit: Steven Haddock / MBARI.

Scientists Sequence Genome of Vampire Squid

Nov 28, 2025 by Natali Anderson

The genome of the vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis sp.) is one of the largest animal genomes, exceeding 10 billion base pairs. The vampire squid (Vampyroteuthis...

German Shepherd puppy. Image credit: Marilyn Peddle / CC BY 2.0.

Almost Two-Thirds of Breed Dogs Have Wolf Ancestry, Study Shows

Nov 25, 2025 by News Staff

Although dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and wolves (Canis lupus) can interbreed and produce fertile offspring, hybridization between the two is far more...

Canadian Eskimo dogs. Illustration by John James Audubon and John Bachman (1845-1848).

Ancient Humans Introduced Wolves to Remote Baltic Sea Island 5,000 Years Ago

Nov 25, 2025 by News Staff

Wolves, the wild ancestor of dogs, are the only large carnivores that have undergone domestication by humans. Yet, it remains unclear if this process took...

Tea plant (Camellia sinensis). Image credit: Yonghan Kim.

Researchers Identify Gene Responsible for Bud Size in Tea Plant

Nov 17, 2025 by News Staff

Tea plant (Camellia sinensis) is among the most significant beverage crops globally. The size of tea buds not only directly affects the yield and quality...

Denisovans were probably dark-skinned, unlike the pale Neanderthals. The picture shows a Neanderthal man. Image credit: Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.

Researchers Using Neanderthal DNA to Learn More About How Human Faces Develop and Evolve

Nov 11, 2025 by News Staff

University of Edinburgh scientist Hannah Long and colleagues show how a region of Neanderthal DNA is better at activating a jaw-forming gene than the human...

A group of Neanderthals in a cave. Image credit: Tyler B. Tretsven.

45,000-Year-Old Crimean Neanderthal Reveals Long-Distance Connections across Eurasia

Nov 3, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

The Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine contains key Middle to Upper Paleolithic transitional archaeological sites, including the site of Starosele, where archaeologists...

The oat (Avena sativa). Image credit: Krystian Win.

Researchers Sequence Oat Pangenome

Oct 29, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Oat (Avena sativa) grain is a traditional human food that is rich in dietary fiber and contributes to improved human health. Interest in the crop has surged...

Lead exposure to humans in modern times versus our ancestors. Image credit: J. Gregory / Mount Sinai Health System.

Lead Exposure May Have Influenced Evolution of Human Brain, Behavior, and Development of Language

Oct 20, 2025 by News Staff

Several hominids — Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus, early Homo sp., Gigantopithecus blacki, Pongo sp., Papio sp., Homo neanderthalensis,...

Radiocarbon dating reveals the mid-Weichselian presence of common hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) in the Upper Rhine Graben in Germany. Image credit: Gemini AI.

Hippos Lived in Central Europe around 40,000 Years Ago, New Study Suggests

Oct 13, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A small, isolated population of common hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) was present in the Upper Rhine Graben in southwestern Germany during the middle...

Seal of Yaroslav the Wise, the Grand Prince of Kyiv from 1019 until 1054 and the father of Anna Yaroslavna, the Queen of France. Image credit: Sheremetievs Museum.

Slavs Originated in Ukraine and Southern Belarus, DNA Study Finds

Sep 15, 2025 by News Staff

The second half of the first millennium CE in Central and Eastern Europe was accompanied by fundamental cultural and political transformations. This period...

An adult mastodon (Mammut sp.) consuming a spruce branch set against a backdrop illustrating their cyclical continental migrations linked to climate fluctuations. At least two species of mastodons roamed North America during the Middle and Late Pleistocene: the American mastodon, stretching from the eastern seaboard to central parts of the continent, and the Pacific mastodon from central Alberta through California. Image credit: Kathryn Killackey.

Mastodons were Far More Genetically Diverse than Previously Known, Ancient DNA Shows

Sep 15, 2025 by News Staff

Ancient DNA has been useful in reconciling deep evolutionary relationships and responses to ecological changes in elephants and their relatives. In new...

The Atlas blue butterfly (Polyommatus atlantica). Image credit: Roger Vila.

Atlas Blue Butterfly Has 229 Pairs of Chromosomes, Scientists Find

Sep 11, 2025 by News Staff

Scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the Institut de Biologia Evolutiva in Spain have sequenced the genome of a female Atlas blue butterfly...

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