Name: Ancient Humans & Neanderthals Had Sex, Here's How It Changed Us Forever
Uploaded: 2017-08-28T08:26:47.000Z
Duration: 4 min 15 s
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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.’

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

For many of us, that includes a few hundred
neanderthal bits as well.

For example, I have 301 neanderthal markers
in my genome.

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

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!”

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

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

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.

Neanderthal DNA also brought some negatives
with it -- like marrying into a new family,

Neanderthal DNA has been implicated in connection
to lupus, type-II diabetes, malnutrition,

All this is pretty amazing stuff, but a new
study took the neanderthal mixing a step further,

They’re claiming an influx of neanderthal
DNA could have changed the shape of the skull,

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

Just like with any progeny, mixing genetics
is a risk.

As ancient humans mixed their genes with these
ancient groups, our evolutionary paths were

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.

After the reunion, we could start a website…
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If you’re wondering just how DTF our ancient
ancestors were -- you should watch Natalia

How do you feel about being part neanderthal?

Let us know in the comments and please subscribe.