Extinct ‘Denisovan’ people may have lived on Earth’s highest plateau
The Tibetan Plateau is a tough environment so we thought humans arrived only about 12,000 years ago, but it seems someone was there 40,000 to 30,000 years ago
‘Scientists are now very sure that the babies really were gene-edited’
He Jiankui has now presented his controversial work at a gene editing summit in Hong Kong. CRISPR expert Helen O’Neill of University College London was there
Double the risk of death! The problem with headline health statistics
The way in which a statistic is presented can entirely change how alarming it sounds. And too often, both newspapers and scientific journals choose the most alarming, but least informative, way
Many psychiatric conditions have the same genes in common
Several conditions including anxiety, depression and anorexia all share a common set of genes, which could lead to better diagnoses
The first Americans had pet dogs 1000 years earlier than thought
There were domestic dogs in North America 10,200 years ago, according to a re-examination of an ancient dog skeleton that looks like a small English setter
Criminals can be identified from the microbes they leave behind
When a person enters a house, they leave behind a unique set of microorganisms that could serve as a fingerprint – and it seems to be accurate enough to spot individual people
The most elusive whales reveal their secrets in their wakes
We know almost nothing about the enormous beaked whales because they spend so much time deep underwater, but a new DNA technique could unmask them
Chimp evolution was shaped by sex with their bonobo relatives
Some chimpanzee populations gained useful DNA from interbreeding with bonobos, and one may even have become more gentle and “bonobo-like” in its brain structure and behaviour
World’s most-spoken languages may have arisen in ancient Iran
About 3 billion people speak Indo-European languages like English and Hindustani, and it seems the first such tongue was spoken south of the Caucasus mountains
Chinese giant salamanders may already be virtually extinct
Researchers spent four years looking for Chinese giant salamanders and only found 24 – and that’s not even the worst bit of news