John Hawks

John Hawks

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introgression

How many Denisovan ancestors?
New studies magnify the observation that three groups of Denisovans may have contributed to many living people's genomes, but I find some unanswered…
 • John Hawks
The ancient mixture in cave lion genomes
Introgression is widespread among lineages of big cats. Our ancestors encountered one of the biggest products.
 • John Hawks
Matrilineal networks may be the key to understanding Neanderthal mixture
A new study focusing on the X chromosome finds repeated maternal dispersal bias in Neanderthal and modern evolution.
 • John Hawks
Tracing the wave of Neanderthal-modern interactions
A rapid expansion of modern people ran into Neanderthals and mixed with them nearly to the ends of their range.
 • John Hawks
A shorter, sharper Out-of-Africa story is emerging
A new study of genomic ancestry in Papua New Guinea supports a short timeline for the dispersal of modern people
 • John Hawks
The gene from Denisovan to Neanderthal to modern mucus
A “genetic sandwich” reveals how a block of DNA entered several populations successively and was affected by natural selection.
 • John Hawks
Denisovan HLA and its role in immunity
Today's people have inherited several immune alleles from archaic people. Understanding what difference they made is a continuing challenge.
 • John Hawks
The humanity of a new Denisovan
Identification of the Harbin skull by mtDNA and proteins and what it means to be Homo sapiens.
 • John Hawks
Lactase and the Neandertals
New research shows that a common gene variant that may explain some lactase persistence in East Asia is introgressed from Neandertals.
 • John Hawks
A hard ceiling on modern human dispersal
Neandertal DNA in some of the oldest modern human genomes establishes a short timeline of 50,000 years for the out-of-Africa founder event.
 • John Hawks
Tracing the signature of African-to-Neandertal gene flow
A new study of African genetic variation yields a more accurate picture of the genetic exchanges between ancient Africans and Neandertals 250,000 years…
 • John Hawks
Interaction and mixture: big picture and small
From the level of function of a single gene up to the movements of entire populations, our evolution was built from mixture.
 • John Hawks
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