Men and Neanderthals never bred
New research shows that humans and Neanderthals never bred, based upon analysis of DNA from the preserved remains of both groups. Neanderthals disappeared from Europe between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago. Anthropologists are unsure why they disappeared, and some have proposed that early humans interbred with them and the result was our species. Scientists looked at mitochondrial DNA from both groups-a kind of DNA that is only inherited from the mother. They found no overlap between the two, suggesting that no genetic mingling took place. A more likely explanation, say researchers, is that early humans outcompeted the Neanderthals and drove them into extinction.
-Zoe Cormier
Source: Nature
Object may be tenth planet
Astronomers may have found another planet in our solar system. Sedna, named after the Inuit goddess of the ocean, was first spotted in 2003. It is about the same size as Pluto, 2000 kilometers across, but at its closest point is 13 times further from the sun than Pluto. Its orbit is highly irregular-it ranges in distance from 13 to 130 billion kilometers from the sun. Sedna lives in the Kuiper belt, a region beyond the orbit of Pluto filled with icy rocks. Other large objects have been found in this area before, but Sedna is larger and has a more regular orbit, making it a more likely candidate for a planet. The International Astronomical Union will officially decide whether or not to call the object a planet.
-ZC
Source: Nature
