Science/Math
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After sequencing the DNA from a 30,000-year-old pinkie finger discovered in a Siberian cave, researchers have confirmed that it belonged to a previously unknown hominid species that probably diverged from the Neanderthal line about 350,000 years ago. The genetic sequence shares as much as 6% of its segments with modern-day Melanesians in the South Pacific, suggesting that the extinct species — which has no formal name but whose members are being called Denisovans because the bone was found in the Denisova Cave — ranged widely throughout East Asia. In May, researchers showed that modern humans of European descent carry 2% to 3% Neanderthal DNA, suggesting that there was interbreeding between the two groups tens of thousands of years ago.
Evolution, hominid, Neanderthal, Denisovans: DNA tests confirm a previously unknown hominid species - latimes.com
A nearly complete genetic analysis out today confirms that, like extinct Neanderthals, another population of pre-humans mostly disappeared from the human family tree about 50,000 years ago. But perhaps 4-6% of the DNA possessed by people today in New Guinea spring from this vanished family of archaic humans, suggests the genetic analysis of a pinky bone found in Siberia 's Denisova cave located in the Altai mountains.
New extinct species of pre-humans confirmed - USATODAY.com
The amazing story of adaptation and survival in our species, Homo sapiens, is written in the language of our genes, in every cell of our bodies—as well as in the fossil and behavioral evidence.
Human Evolution by The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program
But the previous research, published in Nature , had found pigments only on a few isolated parts of dinosaurs ( see pictures )—and had used less rigorous methods for assigning colors to the fossilized, filament-like "protofeathers" found on some dinosaur specimens, say authors of the new report.
True-Color Dinosaur Revealed: First Full-Body Rendering
Evolution is a co-production of the WGBH/NOVA Science Unit and Clear Blue Sky Productions.
Evolution