Pieces in our evolutionary puzzle: New finds from Africa are fleshing out the possible beginnings of the human evolutionary line, with several candidate species vying for the title of our earliest ancestor. Genetic data suggests we shared a last common ancestor with our closest living relatives, chimpanzees, between about 5m and 7m years ago, and there are now three important fossil finds in that formerly empty window of time. [Guardian]
Neanderthals were a separate species: A SIMPLIFIED family tree of humanity has dealt a blow to those who contend that the enigmatic hominids known as Neanderthals intermingled with our forebears. Neanderthals were a separate species to Homo sapiens, as anatomically modern humans are known, rather than offshoots of the same species, the new organigram published by the journal Nature declares. [Australian]
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