Recent single origin hypothesis

Where did we come from? Evolutionary biologist Spencer Wells is pretty close to the answer. He’s the National Geographic “Explorer-in-Residence” and heads an initiative called the Genographic Project. His new book is called Pandora’s Seed. By collecting DNA samples from people around the world, he’s tracing the paths of human migration, and he’s uncovered some […]

Where did we come from? Evolutionary biologist Spencer Wells is pretty close to the answer. He’s the National Geographic “Explorer-in-Residence” and heads an initiative called the Genographic Project. By collecting DNA samples from people around the world, he’s tracing the paths of human migration, and he’s uncovered some startling facts about homo sapiens’ early history: […]

Thanks to a broken finger bone and wisdom tooth found in a Siberian cave, scientists have discovered a new branch in the hominid family tree. Known as the Denisovans, they are cousins to Neanderthals; lived in Asia from roughly 400,000 to 50,000 years ago; and interbred with the ancestors of today’s inhabitants of New Guinea.