Discovery of Genetic Mutation Separating Humans and Neanderthals

An international team of scientists representing Russia, Germany, and the United States have found a unique mechanism at work in the DNA of human beings that helped shape our species’ evolution, the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech) has just announced. The researchers believe this unusual feature, a genetic mutation, may have played a primary role in our overall evolutionary success, helping to make us smarter and more adaptable than similar species that did not survive into the modern era.

This mechanism involves a mutation in the human genetic code that affects metabolism in the brain. This mutation cannot be found in the DNA of other primate species. Notably, it was not present in the brains of our extinct archaic cousins, the Neanderthals and Denisovans, either. At this preliminary stage, the researchers cannot be certain how exactly this mutation might have helped human beings develop their advanced mental capabilities. But its existence is real and is clearly meaningful, since it affects the chemical balance of the brain.