Around 100,000 years ago (dates vary), ancient humans moved out of Africa and into the Middle
East and Europe…
but, another group of hominids called the Neanderthal were already there.
They wanted to be... where the people were… and now we are forever ‘part of their world.’
So to speak.
We sexed them up.
Today, we live with a mix of the DNA of every one of our ancestors.
Luckily for us, both the human and neanderthal genome have been sequenced.
This means, we can look at the full breadth of our DNAs and find places where things match
up.
For many of us, that includes a few hundred neanderthal bits as well.
For example, I have 301 neanderthal markers in my genome.
They say, that’s more than most!
So, many of us have a little genetics from the valley of Neander… which plants a question
in a lot of people’s minds…
did putting some Neander-cream in our Homo sapien-coffee make things better or worse?
In 2016, the first study to try and discover what genetics the neanderthal added found
some shocking results….I want to say first, a lot of this research sort of feels…
icky.
“Ew, we mixed the races and now we’re somehow weaker!”
But, that’s not the case.
According to their research, neander-genes influence “the skin, the immune system,
depression, addiction, and metabolism,” among other things.
They compared the genes and electronic health records of thousands of people, and found
those with certain genetics related to neanderthals also had higher incidences of addiction to
nicotine -- and thus tobacco use.
Another mutation from the neanderthals gave ancient humans hypercoagulability of the blood
-- which the researchers said was be an advantage at the time, but today increases risk of clots
in the bloodstream.
A separate set of researchers found neanderthal DNA may have helped our skin toughen…
As the genes affected keratin production -- the stuff that makes fingernails and hair stronger.
And still others have identified neander-genes that decrease risk of schizophrenia, and more
that help the immune system detect fungi and organism invaders!
There’s even a study stating that Tibetans can tolerate lower oxygen levels, in part,
because of a gene EPAS1 -- which came from mixing with Denisovans -- another separate
ancient group related to the neanderthal.
But it’s not all positive.
Neanderthal DNA also brought some negatives with it -- like marrying into a new family,
you get both good and bad!
Neanderthal DNA has been implicated in connection to lupus, type-II diabetes, malnutrition,
heightened allergies… and so on.
All this is pretty amazing stuff, but a new study took the neanderthal mixing a step further,
which skeeves me out a bit…
They’re claiming an influx of neanderthal DNA could have changed the shape of the skull,
and thus the brain.
To test their hypothesis they created a system to compare how much neanderthal genetics a
group of people had, giving their participants a NeanderScore.
Their research pointed to two areas of the brain that were altered after mixing with
neanderthals: the visual cortex, which you know, and also the IPS — which is associated
with grasping and coordinating body movements -- it’s part of the reason we can use tools.
The thing is, after that it get’s a liiiiiittle shaky, as they’re making assumptions about
evolution based on a bunch of hypotheses.
In the end, obviously, more research is needed.
Genes are very important for some traits, but they’re not 100-percent predictors.
For example, even if you have a gene that puts you at high risk for cancer, it’s still
not a guarantee.
Just like with any progeny, mixing genetics is a risk.
As ancient humans mixed their genes with these ancient groups, our evolutionary paths were
intertwined.
As we learn more about the volumes of information hidden in our DNA -- I, for one, look forward
to expanding my family reunions to include even more of my neander valley cousins.
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If you’re wondering just how DTF our ancient ancestors were -- you should watch Natalia
explain that here.
How do you feel about being part neanderthal?
Let us know in the comments and please subscribe.