Decoding Neanderthals | NOVA – Video

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNwyY5MB5WY

Decoding Neanderthals | NOVA
Decoding Neanderthals premieres Wednesday, January 9th at 9PM/8c on PBS. http://www.pbs.org/nova Over 60000 years ago, the first modern humans mdash;people physically identical to us today mdash;left their African homeland and entered Europe, then a bleak and inhospitable continent in the grip of the Ice Age. But when they arrived, they were not alone: the stocky, powerfully built Neanderthals had already been living there for hundred of thousands of years. So what happened when the first modern humans encountered the Neanderthals? Did we make love or war? That question has tantalized generations of scholars and seized the popular imagination. Then, in 2010, a team led by geneticist Svante Paabo announced stunning news. Not only had they reconstructed much of the Neanderthal genome mdash;an extraordinary technical feat that would have seemed impossible only a decade ago mdash;but their analysis showed that "we" modern humans had interbred with Neanderthals, leaving a small but consistent signature of Neanderthal genes behind in everyone outside Africa today. In Decoding Neanderthals, NOVA explores the implications of this exciting discovery. In the traditional view, Neanderthals differed from "us" in behavior and capabilities as well as anatomy. But were they really mentally inferior, as inexpressive and clumsy as the cartoon caveman they inspired? NOVA explores a range of intriguing new evidence for Neanderthal self-expression and language, all pointing to the fact that we may have seriously ...From:NOVA PBSViews:4 1ratingsTime:00:31More inScience Technology

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Decoding Neanderthals | NOVA - Video