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and modern humans had a fascinatingly intertwined past. We know, from studies of our own DNA, that when the paths of the two species crossed, things could get more than a little steamy.Orcas aside, what we don't really have a clear idea about is the extent of the human-Neanderthal shenanigans. And most of the studies performed to date have been about the gene flow from Neanderthals to humans.
Their results reveal a long, repeated association between the two groups of hominins, dating back to as long as 250,000 years ago. And, the researchers found, the Neanderthal DNA that shows traces of this previous relationship has led scientists to overestimate the overall population size of Neanderthals, by around 20 percent.,"are consistent with a Neanderthal population that was decreasing in size over time and was ultimately being absorbed into the modern human gene pool.
They found those traces in Neanderthal DNA from African individuals. Neanderthal DNA found in non-African individuals did not have the same signature. This allowed the researchers to identify two specific pulses of human to Neanderthal gene flow, one around 250,000 to 200,000 years ago, and a second around 120,000 to 100,000 years ago.
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