The human genome is made up of 23 pairs of chromosomes, the biological blueprints that make humans … well, human. But it turns out that some of our DNA — about 8% — are the remnants of ancient viruses ...

Ancient DNA is turning human evolution into a crime scene reconstruction, and one of the prime suspects is a herpesvirus that ...

Recent advancements in DNA analysis have brought to light intriguing evidence that humans may have multiple, uncharted ancestors. This novel finding not only challenges the prevailing understanding of ...

Knowing how human DNA changes over generations is essential to estimating genetic disease risks and understanding how we evolved. But some of the most changeable regions of our DNA have been ...

The Indigenous peoples of the Bolivian highlands are survivors. For thousands of years they have lived at altitudes of more than two miles, where oxygen is about 35 percent lower than at sea level.

Data from a new study links a pair of duplicated genes to human brain features. The research provides a roadmap for scientists to gain a deeper understanding of brain function and evolution, as well ...

After more than two decades of work, researchers have achieved a genetics milestone: they have successfully sequenced the complete genomes of six ape species, a feat that seemed impossible just a few ...

In 1758, Swedish biologist Carl Linnaeus gave humans a scientific name: Homo sapiens, which means "wise human" in Latin. Although Linnaeus grouped humans with other apes, it was English biologist ...