Studying Neanderthal mini-brains, scientists unlock clues to modern human evolution
Hoping to learn what sets our brains apart from those of the Neanderthals, scientists have inserted a gene from our extinct cousins into human brain organoids — miniature versions of the real thing — and watched them grow in a lab dish.
Modern human DNA shares a large portion of its genetic code with archaic species like the Neanderthals and Denisovans, but the genes that aren’t shared might have been particularly important for evolution, according to researchers from the University of California, San Diego.
