Science Alert
Bec Crew
Feb. 24, 2017
The last Neanderthals died out tens of thousands of years ago, but the effects of interbreeding are still being felt today, with a new genetic study revealing that certain traits in modern humans, such as height and schizophrenia risk, can be affected by their ancient genes.
While previous studies have found that Neanderthal DNA comprises about 2 percent of the genomes of most modern humÂans, it's been difficult to determine if they actually have an effect on our gene expression. But now researchers have finally figured out that this ancient remnant is so much more than a silent snippet of our genome.
"Hybridisation between modern humans and Neanderthals increased genomic complexity," says one of the team, geneticist Joshua Akey from the University of Washington.
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http://www.sciencealert.com/neanderthal-dna-determines-our-health-and-appearance-way-more-than-we-thoughtIf you can pick your nose with your toes...
