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Article: Neanderthal DNA will talk to scientists; Genetic research on fossilised bone will show how closely modern humans are related to a primitive species.(News)
- Article from:
- The Sunday Independent (South Africa)
- Article date:
- February 15, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Independent News & Media PLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BYLINE: Steve Connor
Their lives may have been nasty, brutish and short, but their DNA has survived long enough to be almost fully decoded in a pioneering study that has revealed just how closely related the Neanderthals were to modern humans.
For the first time, scientists have deciphered the genetic sequence of the Neanderthal genome. It is the first genetic blueprint of an extinct human species and a tour de force in terms of the scientific techniques used to recover tiny strands of ancient DNA from fragments of fossilised bones tens of thousands of years old.
Although scientists are far from answering the many questions about the last of ...