Monday, March 29, 2010

Third Human Species Found

Science Friday (NPR, March 26, 2010)

This is the entrance of the Siberian cave where the finger was found (Bence Viola).

A new human relative, from a DNA sample?
Genetic analysis of DNA taken from a single 40,000 year-old prehistoric finger bone may point to a new branch of the human family tree.
Writing in the journal Nature this week, a team of researchers describe their studies of mitochondrial DNA extracted from a child's finger bone that was unearthed in 2008. Unearthed in Denisova cave, in southern Siberia's Altai mountains, the finger bone was found to contain DNA significantly different from either Neanderthals or modern humans. More>>

View from cave overlooking Siberia (Johannes Krause)

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