Latest news with #Neanderthal
The Print
an hour ago
- Health
- The Print
A UK health study has collected a whopping 100,000 full-body scans, and Neanderthals had ‘family recipes'
It is transforming healthcare, because UK National Health Service clinics now use Biobank-developed tools for faster, sharper diagnosis. The project is still ongoing and is expected to end by 2029. Since 2015, researchers have used this vast dataset, which includes MRI scans of the brain, heart and abdomen, bone and fat measurements, and more, to develop earlier and more accurate diagnostics for conditions like dementia, heart disease and cancer. The project is impactful not just because of the deep imaging, but also because of 10 years' worth of lifestyle, genetic and health data from the same volunteers. New Delhi: The UK Biobank has collected the scans of 100,000 volunteers in the world's largest whole body imaging project, to understand how bodies change with age, and how disease begins. The milestone was announced Tuesday in a release by UK Biobank, a biomedical database and research resource. Scientists have also used the data to train AI models that can predict diseases years before symptoms appear, and altogether around 1,300 peer-reviewed scientific studies have been published worldwide using this data. The Biobank will soon make available a billion anonymised images of MRI scans of the 100,000 volunteers, providing increasing access for global biomedical research. 'Family recipes' of Neanderthals Just like modern humans, the Neanderthals too had their own 'family recipes', according to a new peer-reviewed study published Thursday. The paper in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology by researchers from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem talks about the different meat curing methods of two Neanderthal groups, with researchers studying animal bones from two nearby caves in northern Israel, named Amud and Kebara, which were occupied by Neanderthals around 500,000 years ago. Both groups seemed to have hunted the same animals and used similar tools, yet their butchery marks were surprisingly different. At Amud, the cut-marks on the meat were more densely packed and irregular, while at Kebara, they were more spaced and orderly. These differences weren't due to skill or resources; instead, the researchers wrote that they reflect cultural food practices passed down through generations, like drying or ageing meat before cutting it. It is one of the strongest pieces of evidence yet that Neanderthals had distinct traditions, possibly shared through social learning. It's a glimpse into their cultural complexity and shows that meat prep may have carried deeper meaning in their communities, much like the food rituals we have today. Scientists catch a planet dying It is rare that a cosmic tragedy unfolds in real time, but astronomers from Australia's Macquarie University have caught a distant planet in the act of dying. In their study on orbital decay, the astronomers have found TOI-2109b, a giant exoplanet nearly five times the mass of Jupiter and twice the size, spiralling dangerously close to its host star, completing one blistering-hot orbit every 16 hours. This is even shorter than Mercury's orbit around the Sun. It is the shortest orbit ever seen for a planet this big. Using data that was collected over 14 years from NASA's TESS, ESA's CHEOPS and ground-based telescopes, the researchers confirmed that the planet's orbit is shrinking by about 10 seconds over the next few years. What happens next? According to the study, TOI-2109b might plunge into its star, be shredded by gravity, or have its gas layers stripped away, leaving just a rocky core behind. This rare glimpse into a planet's 'death spiral' is giving scientists new insights into how planetary systems change over time. The peer-reviewed study was published in The Astrophysical Journal Tuesday. A refuge for wildlife After a massive wildfire swept through Brazil's Pantanal wetlands in 2020, researchers noticed something surprising: more jaguars showed up. A protected 36,700-acre site that already had the world's highest jaguar density saw an increase in both jaguar activity and new cubs. A new peer-reviewed paper in Global Change Biology, published Tuesday, describes the findings. Led by Oregon State University, US, the study used camera traps and analysis of animal droppings to study jaguar populations before, during, and after the fire. The researchers found that resident jaguars stayed put, while others migrated in, and that the cats continued to feed mostly on aquatic prey like fish and caiman, rather than switching to land animals. The authors said the area may be acting as a climate refuge, a safe haven for wildlife during extreme climate events like wildfires and drought. They highlighted the value of protected wetlands in an era of increasing climate extremes. (Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui) Also Read: That morning brew could be doing more than just jumpstarting your day—helping your cells age gracefully
IOL News
3 hours ago
- Sport
- IOL News
Doc Rassie prescribing bitter pills for World Rugby as entertaining Springboks go box office
NOT A HAPPY CHAPPY: Rassie Erasmus NOT A HAPPY CHAPPY: Rassie Erasmus seems to be enjoying getting under World Rugby skin, but all in the name of progressive rugby. | BAckpagePix The suits at World Rugby no doubt watch Springbok games with one hand over an eye as they ask themselves, 'What is Dr Erasmus going to prescribe to his players this time?' Often, Rassie's dose is bitter pills for World Rugby, the rigid runners of the game. Boring old farts (former England captain Will Carling's words, not mine) who cannot shrug their suspicion of anything outside the tried and tested tramlines of the game. The rabbits Rassie pulled out of the hat against Italy in Gqeberha are well-documented, and immediately, there was praise and uproar in equal measure around the rugby globe. Some hailed maverick Rassie for continuing to blaze new trails in the sport, while others branded the Boks cheats and disrespectful. Most of the negative reaction was typically from the Northern Hemisphere, where a stereotype of the Springboks has lingered for over a century. It seems they will forever be Neanderthal brutes who bludgeon the opposition, and if that one-dimensional approach doesn't work, there is no Plan B. To be fair, this old trope was not without merit in the amateur days when the South Africans were bigger than everyone else, but in the professional era, gym programmes have cancelled the size factor out to a significant degree. The Springboks still have naturally big men, but they have had to move beyond 'route one' to stay ahead of the pack, and the likes of Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse hardly fit the 'Bok bulldozer' cliché. Still, many in the rugby world struggle to embrace the fact that the Springboks under Rassie Erasmus have morphed into a versatile outfit that can switch between the pressure game that was all they knew in Rassie's first year in charge and exploring the width of the field with exhilarating backline play. Two of their flyhalves, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Manie Libbock, are —along with Scotland's Finn Russell — the most enterprising playmakers in the game. In 2018 and 2019, the Boks indeed laboured under the tiresome tyranny of the box kick, but the coach had to start somewhere after inheriting a shambles from outgoing coach Allister Coetzee. Of course, that basic game plan won the Boks a surprise World Cup title in 2019 and — to give them due praise — they were already flexing their expansive muscle when you consider the quality of the tries scored by wingers Kolbe and Makazole Mapimpi in the final against England. Last October, Erasmus took the Springboks to the Channel Island of Jersey for a camp ahead of their November tour. A host of leading British and Irish journalists were invited to join the Boks for interviews. Rassie wanted to change the rugby world's perception of the Springboks, but the Charm Offensive bore little fruit. Stigmas are hard to shake off. It did not help the Springbok image when the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour was shrouded in controversy, with Erasmus in the middle of some of it. I'm talking about the 62-minute video assassination of referee Nick Berry's performance in the first Test, which culminated in a lengthy ban for the coach. Erasmus, though, does what he does for the best of the team and the video, leaked somewhere between the Bok management and the World Rugby referees' department, had the impact of resolving most of the Boks' issues with the officiating. The second Test was won largely as a consequence. A more current example is the controversial start to the second Test against Italy, where the Boks manipulated a scrum from the kick-off. When the Boks were criticised, Erasmus tweeted a video clip of how the Italians cheated in the set scrums both in Pretoria and Gqeberha. The clip shows the scrumhalf putting the ball around the legs of the openside flank and flicking it straight to the No 8. The ball doesn't even get to the prop, never mind the hooker. The irony of the criticism of Erasmus is that the Boks, for decades, were derided for their dinosaur tactics. The Wallabies and All Blacks did not disguise their pleasure in outwitting the South Africans in the first two decades of the millennium, but now that the Boks have gone to the other extreme, the tune should have changed. Sadly, it hasn't, despite two recent World Cups in the bag, and counting. Maybe that is the problem. Scorn has given way to jealousy, and the Springboks are not getting the respect they deserve in some quarters. A big point that the Springbok detractors are missing is that, ultimately, sport is about entertainment, and in that regard, the Boks are box office.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Endurance athletes that carry Neanderthal genes could be held back from reaching their peak
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Scientists have uncovered a genetic variant, inherited from Neanderthals, that may limit athletic performance. The mutation is thought to affect roughly 8% of modern-day Europeans and influences the activity of a key enzyme in the production of energy in skeletal muscle. In a study published July 10 in the journal Nature Communications, researchers analyzed more than 2,700 individuals, which revealed that those who carried the Neanderthal gene variant were half as likely to become top athletes as those without the variant. The variant was found in up to 8% of present-day Europeans, 3% of Native Americans and 2% of South Asians, while it was absent in Africans, East Asians and African-Americans. "Since modern humans mixed with Neanderthals around 50,000 years ago, particularly in Europe and Western Asia, non-African populations today carry about 1–2% Neanderthal DNA," Dominik Macak, the study's first author and Doctoral Student at Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, told Live Science in an email. While the Neanderthal variant is not linked with any major health issues, its impact on the body's ability to produce energy during intense exercise could lead to reduced athletic performance in endurance and power sports, the researchers say. During exercise, cells gain energy by breaking down a molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP), often described as our body's "batteries". One way that our body creates ATP, particularly during intense exercise, is by turning two molecules of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) into one molecule of ATP and one of adenosine monophosphate (AMP). The ATP produced by this reaction is used to power energetic processes in our cells, while the AMP byproduct is removed by an enzyme called AMPD1. It's this enzyme that is impaired in those with the Neanderthal gene variant, the researchers found. To test the impacts of this gene variant, scientists recreated the Neanderthal version of the AMPD1 enzyme in the lab. They found that it was 25% less active than the enzyme produced in humans with other variants of the gene. Next, they genetically engineered mice to express the altered AMPD1 and found that the enzyme was up to 80% less active than the non-Neanderthal variant. RELATED STORIES — East Asians who can digest lactose can thank Neanderthal genes — Papua New Guineans, genetically isolated for 50,000 years, carry Denisovan genes that help their immune system, study suggests — Viking DNA helps reveal when HIV-fighting gene mutation emerged: 9,000 years ago near the Black Sea The researchers then analyzed the prevalence of the gene among elite athletes and non-athletes. They found that 4% to 14% of athletes carried this genetic variant, while 9% to 19% of non-athletes had the variant. Carrying just one copy of the Neanderthal gene (out of the two copies inherited from parents) led to a 50% lower probability of achieving elite athletic status, the data suggested. Those that carry the Neanderthal gene may struggle with more extreme exercise because the impaired enzyme will allow AMP to build up in their muscles, making it harder for them to produce ATP as fast as their cells need. However, having the Neanderthal gene variant is unlikely to affect most people's daily activities, where energy is obtained by other means. It is only during endurance sports or in exercises that demand muscular power that carriers might be at a slight disadvantage, the researchers said. But how might this variant have impacted the Neanderthals themselves? "It's very unlikely that this single genetic variant played a role in the extinction of the Neanderthals," Macak said. "We find it in both early and later Neanderthal individuals, suggesting it was stably present over thousands of years. Additionally, some modern humans today carry mutations that disrupt the AMPD1 protein entirely, often without any major health issues. So, while the gene affects muscle metabolism, it likely wasn't a decisive factor in their ability to survive."
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Neanderthal meat butchering patterns suggest cultural diversity
(NewsNation) — New archeological research reveals Neanderthals had varying food preferences and spiced up their diets by using different food preparation techniques. The way Neanderthals, an extinct species of humans, butchered their meat varied depending on where they lived, a study published Wednesday found. The archaeological discovery suggests cultural differences among early groups of people. Researchers studied and compared butchery cut mark patterns of 344 animal bone fragments from two nearby cave sites in modern-day Israel, where Neanderthals were known to have inhabited. Ground squirrels are taking over a North Dakota city, and officials are not amused 'This evidence might suggest distinctive butchering strategies between the Neanderthal populations in Amud and Kebara caves despite comparable occupation intensities, similar lithic technologies, and access to similar food resources,' the authors wrote in the study. 'Such discrepancies could possibly reflect inter-group cultural differences related to carcass processing preferences, organization of tasks within the group, or socially transmitted traditions.' In other words, although the two cave sites were close in distance and had similar tech and food resources, the people there developed unique food habits. Food is often one representation of a culture, and the research showed Neanderthals formed their own sub-cultures, similar to today. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Osteoarchaeologist Uncovers Shocking Link Between Brain Condition and Neanderthals
Modern humans may owe more to Neanderthals than just a few genetic quirks, and in at least one case, that inheritance might come with serious health risks. A new study suggests that Chiari malformation type I, a brain abnormality that affects up to 1 in 100 people, may be tied to DNA inherited from Neanderthals. The condition happens when the lower part of the brain extends into the spinal canal, often causing severe headaches, neck pain, and other complications. Researchers had long suspected that interbreeding between Homo sapiens and ancient hominin species could play a role in the shape mismatch between the brain and skull that leads to this defect. But this new research points a finger squarely at Neanderthals, not other early human relatives like Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis. Led by osteoarchaeologist Kimberly Plomp at the University of the Philippines, Science Alert reports the team used 3D modeling and skull shape analysis on more than 100 modern human skulls, comparing those with Chiari malformation to those without. They also examined eight fossil skulls from ancient species, including Neanderthals. Their finding? Only the skulls of Neanderthals showed a similarity to the bone structure of modern people with Chiari malformations, especially in the area where the brain meets the spine. This challenges an earlier theory from 2013 that broadly connected the defect to multiple ancient human species. Instead, researchers now propose what they're calling the Neanderthal Introgression Hypothesis, suggesting the condition may trace specifically back to Neanderthal ancestry. The next step is expanding the study to include more skull samples and testing across different populations. Since African groups have far less Neanderthal DNA than European or Asian groups, future research could reveal patterns in how widespread the condition is based on genetic inheritance. Ultimately, understanding this ancient connection could offer new insight into diagnosing and possibly preventing Chiari malformations. The researchers believe their methods could help unravel the causes of the condition and lead to better treatment Uncovers Shocking Link Between Brain Condition and Neanderthals first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 16, 2025
