Homo sapiens

Scientists reveal the face of a Neanderthal who lived 75,000 years ago

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Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and more. A woman in her forties was buried in a cave 75,000 years ago and laid to rest in a trench hollowed out to house her body. Her left hand was curled under her head and … Read more

One of the largest eruptions in Earth’s history could have wiped out humans. This is how scientists say some survived

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Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and more. About 74,000 years ago, Mount Toba in Sumatra experienced a super eruption, one of the largest in Earth’s history, potentially causing a massive disruption to the world’s climate. Some scientists have suspected that a volcanic … Read more

Human bones unearthed in a German cave have changed the timeline of ancient human history

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Researchers recovered ancient human bone fragments from the Ilsenhöhle cave in Ranis, Germany.Tim Schüler / TLDA Human bones in a German cave place Homo Sapiens in Europe 7,500 years earlier than experts thought. The findings suggest that Homo sapiens lived near Neanderthals for millennia, which is a new revelation. Scientists used to think that Homo … Read more

Neanderthals and humans may be the same species, scientists say. It could rewrite the history of our evolution.

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An employee at the Natural History Museum in London looks at a model of a Neanderthal male.Will Oliver/PA Images/Getty Until recently, the consensus was that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens were separate species. But most humans carry about 2% of Neanderthal DNA, challenging the view that we are different. Other studies suggest that Neanderthals are not … Read more