Neanderthals had a propensity for earache, nudging them to their doom

The Economist

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The last Neanderthals vanished from Earth about 40,000 years ago. Exactly what drove them to extinction, however, remains a mystery, with their disappearance variously attributed to anything from climate change to inferior cognitive abilities or even cannibalism.

Anthony Pagano, a medical researcher at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, has a new explanation. He thinks Neanderthals might have been unusually prone to severe ear infections, which left them struggling to compete against their Homo sapiens cousins. Read more on The Economist website…