An average Neanderthal and a prehistoric human were about as close, genetically speaking, as any two humans walking the Earth today. That is the conclusion of a new Israeli study that finds that only 0.12% of difference, on average, separated the Neanderthals’ genomes from those of early homo sapiens.

This makes Neanderthals definitely similar enough to mate with early humans and to essentially be considered the same species with them. Human genomes today differ from each other by about 0.1%, on average. For comparison’s sake, chimpanzees, our closest nonhuman cousins alive today, are a comparably more distant 98.8% genetically identical to us. Gorillas share a similar 98.4% of our DNA.

Two researchers from Hebrew University in Jerusalem-Liran Carmel, computational biologist; and Eran Meshorer, stem cell biologist-led the study, which used computer models to compare the epigenomes of Neanderthals, homo sapiens, and a third human relative, the Denisovans. The epigenome is the record of genetic change, consisting of genes that are turned on or off even while the genetic sequences remain intact. This differs from studying the genome, which is the entire record of all of the 3 billion molecules that constitute our DNA, including all active and inactive genes alike. The research […]