TWiEVO 82: A genetic hack for the human brain
This Week in Evolution
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The Evolution of Neanderthal DNA
In Twivo episode eight, we looked at some of the immune genes in Neanderthals. We found that no Neanderthals had a gene for an amino acid they use to make proteins. This suggests it must have been fixed by chance and then passed on through hybridization or mating with Homo sapiens. But what happened next? And why did modern humans get rid of so much Neanderthal DNA? It's hard to know how all this came about.
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Transcript
