Chimp evolution was shaped by sex with their bonobo relatives
Humans and chimpanzees might have one more thing in common: they both seem to have benefitted from sex with a closely related species. Image: Axel.Foley
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Author: Colin
World’s most-spoken languages may have arisen in ancient Iran
Hundreds of languages, from English to Hindustani, are all derived from a single ancestral tongue. Now DNA from ancient bones suggests that the people who spoke this ancient language lived somewhere south of the Caucasus mountains in western Asia. Image: Marc Wathieu
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Harsh: Europe’s cannabis died just as the first farmers arrived
Cannabis – the source of the drug marijuana – grew wild across Europe at the end of the Stone Age, but by the time early farmers reached the continent it was vanishing. It seems Europe’s first farmers just missed out on the opportunity to cultivate cannabis and reap its benefits – including its mind-bending properties. Image: duncan
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Stem cells may reveal how Neanderthal DNA works in modern humans
We could soon find out how the Neanderthal DNA many of us carry actually affects us. It turns out that stem cells, which have been hyped as a way to treat incurable diseases, can also be used to examine what Neanderthal genes do. Image: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
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Identity crisis: When is a dinosaur not a dinosaur?
Harry Seeley looked like your typical Victorian gentleman, but he was a killer. In 1887, he destroyed the dinosaurs. Seeley looked at the fossil bones and reached a radical conclusion: technically, he said, there was no such thing as a dinosaur – and for a century, almost everyone agreed with him. Image: p_a_h
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