Part Of You Isn't Human (And Science Can Prove It)

You're standing in a checkout line, scrolling your phone, and a piece of someone who died tens of thousands of years ago is quietly running inside your cells. This isn't a metaphor. It's biology. In this video, we look at how Neanderthals and Denisovans, two extinct human species, never fully disappeared. Their DNA lives on in billions of people today, and it's shaping your body in ways you've probably never noticed. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN How Neanderthal DNA was sequenced and proved that modern humans interbred with them How a single finger bone from Denisova Cave revealed a human species no one knew existed How much Neanderthal and Denisovan DNA you may carry, depending on ancestry How a Denisovan gene helps Tibetan populations live at extreme altitude How Neanderthal genes shaped the human immune system The Neanderthal gene cluster linked to severe COVID-19 "Denny," the child of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father Why Neanderthals weren't wiped out so much as absorbed into us PEOPLE, PLACES AND TERMS MENTIONED Svante Pääbo, geneticist, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2022) Denisova Cave, Altai Mountains, Siberia Neanderthals: an extinct human species that lived in Europe and Asia Denisovans: an extinct human species first identified from DNA in 2010 EPAS1: a gene involved in how the body responds to low oxygen HLA genes: part of the immune system that recognizes pathogens "Denny": a first-generation Neanderthal-Denisovan hybrid, identified in 2018 SOURCES AND FURTHER READING Green et al., "A Draft Sequence of the Neandertal Genome," Science, 2010 Reich et al., "Genetic history of an archaic hominin group from Denisova Cave in Siberia," Nature, 2010 Slon et al., "The genome of the offspring of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father," Nature, 2018 Huerta-Sánchez et al., "Altitude adaptation in Tibetans caused by introgression of Denisovan-like DNA," Nature, 2014 Abi-Rached et al., "The shaping of modern human immune systems by multiregional admixture with archaic humans," Science, 2011 Zeberg and Pääbo, "The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals," Nature, 2020 Vernot and Akey, "Resurrecting surviving Neanderthal lineages from modern human genomes," Science, 2014 Percentages and dates in this video are approximate and reflect published research at the time of writing. Science changes as new fossils and genomes are sequenced. The narration uses a synthetic voice. The script was researched and edited by me. 💬 Would you take a DNA test to find out how much Neanderthal you are? Tell me in the comments. Subscribe for more stickman explainers on human evolution and ancient history. #Neanderthal #Denisovans #HumanEvolution