Many of us are part caveman, according to an analysis of Neanderthal genes, which were sequenced for the first time in a recent study. The Neanderthal genome offers further evidence that this ancient hominid species mated and interbred with the ancestors of modern humans, scientists say. ‘The Neanderthals are not totally extinct,’ said study leader Svante Paabo of the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. ‘In some of us they live on a little bit.’ In fact, between 1 percent and 4 percent of some modern humans’ DNA came from Neanderthals, who lived between about 130,000 and 30,000 years ago, the researchers report today. It took the scientists years to compile this first sequence of the Neanderthal genome, which is now about 60-percent complete. Researchers extracted DNA from the 40,000-year-old bones of three female Neanderthals found in a cave in Croatia. They had to come up with novel techniques to screen out contamination from bacteria and even present-day human DNA. The feat is a major step forward in piecing together human evolutionary history, experts say. ‘Dr. Paabo’s publication of the full Neandertal genome is a watershed event, a major historical achievement,’ said […]