Evolutionary geneticist and Nobel Laureate Svante Pääbo led the team that successfully sequenced the Neanderthal genome and this breakthrough revealed modern humans still carry DNA from Neanderthals. The team also discovered a previously unknown extinct Asian hominin group related to Neandertals, which they named “Denisovans”. They found that about 2.0% of the genomes of people living outside Africa come from Neandertals while about 5.0% of the genomes of people living in Oceania come from Denisovans. In this J.C. Kapteyn Lecture, Pääbo explains that these genetic contributions have numerous physiological and medical consequences today, for example in growth patterns and sensitivity to pain.

Links:
J.C. Kapteyn Lezing : Traces of Ancient Genes in Modern Life