Instant Genius Why your Neanderthal genes may be affecting your health
Apr 30, 2026
Prof Chris Stringer, scientific associate at London’s Natural History Museum and author on human evolution. He explains who Neanderthals were and how they relate to Homo sapiens and Denisovans. He explores why fragments of Neanderthal DNA persist in people and what those genes might be doing to modern health. He also discusses whether Neanderthals had culture and the ethics of bringing them back.
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Three Related Human Lineages Interbred
- Neanderthals and Denisovans were distinct human lineages that evolved outside Africa and split from our line at least 600,000 years ago.
- Chris Stringer explains they interbred with Homo sapiens after modern humans left Africa, leaving measurable DNA in many people today.
Human Evolution Was A Branching Bush
- Human evolution was not a single straight line but a branching bush with multiple human kinds coexisting, sometimes in the same regions.
- Around 100,000 years ago up to six different human forms, including Homo erectus and the Flores 'hobbit', lived simultaneously.
Neanderthal DNA Persists Widely Today
- Although Neanderthals went extinct as populations, about 40% of the Neanderthal genome survives spread across non-African humans today.
- Stringer notes that because of billions of modern humans, more Neanderthal DNA likely exists now than when they were alive.
