It's in the genes.: Recent analysis of the gene sequence shows there's a little Neanderthal is some of us. I know I feel it.Courtesy Mark RyanOur on-again-off-again relationship with Neanderthal man is back on. Just last year scientists proclaimed there had been no interbreeding between us (Homo sapiens) and the neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis). But now our stocky human cousin's complete genome has been further analyzed and shows that some modern humans still carry a little bit of Neanderthal genetic material, something like 1 to 4 percent. This means some hanky-panky was going on between the two human species at a point in our development after a faction of early humans had migrated out of Africa. How do we know this? We know because the genes show up in some humans from Europe, Asia, and Oceania (Australia and the Pacific Islands) but not in people native to Africa. This nifty chart illustrates what happened, and the research from scientists at the Max Planck Institute and elsewhere can be found in the current issue of Science.

SOURCES & LINKS
New Scientist website story
Smithsonian.com story
Neanderthal Genome Project