When archaeologists discovered a 40,000 year old pinky bone in a Siberian cave, everyone wondered who the bone belonged to. Researchers extracted DNA from the fossil and used it to construct an evolutionary tree to see how the pinky bone’s owner was related to modern day humans and Neanderthals. Scientists were surprised by what they found — read more about it in this month’s Evo in the news: Making sense of ancient homonin DNA.
Each month, the UCMP’s Understanding Evolution website features an Evo in the news article, which focuses on the evolutionary aspects of a popular news story. Click here to browse the Evo in the news archive!