Mysterious Ancient Humans Now Have a Face
When Qiaomei Fu discovered a new kind of human 15 years ago, she had no idea what it looked like. There was only a fragment of a pinkie bone to go on.
The fossil chip, found in a Siberian cave called Denisova, looked as if it might have come from a 66,000-year-old relative of today's humans, or maybe a Neanderthal. But Dr. Fu, then a graduate student at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, and her colleagues found DNA in the fossil that told a different story. The bone had belonged to a girl who was part of a third human lineage never seen before. They named her people the Denisovans.
In the years since, Dr. Fu has helped to discover more Denisovan DNA: in teeth and bone fragments from the Denisova cave, in the sediment of a cave floor in Tibet and even in people living today in Asia and the Pacific — evidence of interbreeding tens of thousands of years ago.
But without clues from a skeleton or a skull, the physical appearance of these humans remained a mystery, said Dr. Fu, now a geneticist at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing. 'After 15 years, people want to know, who are the Denisovans?'
Now she can put a face to the name.
Dr. Fu and her colleagues announced Wednesday that a skull found in China contains both Denisovan DNA and Denisovan protein. 'This moment is special to me,' Dr. Fu said.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Science recap: This week's discoveries include new clues from the fossil skull of a mysterious human species
Editor's note: A version of this story appeared in CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. Tens of thousands of years ago, our species — Homo sapiens — mingled and interbred with other prehistoric humans: our distant cousins, the Neanderthals and Denisovans. Hundreds of Neanderthal fossils give us a good idea of their appearance, lives and relationships, but so little is known about Denisovans that they still don't have an official scientific name. Evidence of their existence has surfaced in faint traces, mapped by DNA markers that lurk in our own genetic makeup and confirmed by only a few fossil fragments. This week, however, a 146,000-year-old skull dredged out of a well in China in 2018 may just be a key missing piece to this cryptic evolutionary puzzle. The nearly complete skull did not match any previously known species of prehistoric human. But two new studies — which researchers say are among the biggest paleoanthropology papers of the year — detail how scientists were able to extract genetic material from the fossil and help unravel this biological mystery. The DNA sample taken from 'Dragon Man,' as the specimen is called, revealed that he was in fact related to Denisovans, early humans who are thought to have lived between roughly 500,000 and 30,000 years ago. The finding could be monumental, helping to paint a fuller picture of a time when our own species coexisted with other prehistoric humans. Astronomers have long grappled with the quandary of 'dark matter,' but plenty of enigmas surround regular matter as well. The proton-and-neutron-based atoms that we're familiar with are called baryonic matter. And this material is strewn between galaxies like intergalactic fog, making it extremely difficult to measure. Perhaps, that is, until now. A new study explains how scientists were able to observe the baryonic matter using the flashing of fast radio bursts. In a rare encounter, scientists have captured the first-ever footage of an elusive 3-foot-long squid alive in its deep-sea habitat. Fruit, flowers, birds and musical instruments decorated the walls of a luxury villa — part of a site the excavation team dubbed the 'Beverly Hills' of Roman Britain — before the building was razed roughly 1,800 years ago. The frescoes were painstakingly pieced together by experts from the Museum of London Archaeology. Han Li, senior building material specialist at MOLA, described the effort as a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity. Romans invaded modern-day Britain in AD 43 and established Londinium, the precursor to modern London. The occupation lasted for almost 400 years. Under the life-affirming glow of the sun, methane is a dangerous gas to be avoided. A heat-trapping chemical pollutant in Earth's atmosphere, methane exacerbates the climate crisis. But within the planet's deep recesses — thousands of feet below the ocean's surface off the US West Coast — the gas can be transformed into a nutritious meal. At least for spiders. Scientists say they've discovered three previously unknown species of sea spider living around methane seeps. In these marine habitats where sunlight can't reach, gas escapes through cracks in the seafloor and feeds bacteria that latch on to the spiders' exoskeletons. The bacteria convert carbon-rich methane and oxygen into sugars and fats the spiders can eat, according to a new study. The newfound Sericosura sea spiders may pass methane-fueled bacteria to their hatchlings as an easy source of food, the researchers suggest. Check out these other must-read science stories from the week: — A SpaceX Starship rocket exploded during a routine ground test on Wednesday. Explore how this and other recent setbacks may affect the company's Mars ambitions. — A tiny brown moth in Australia migrates some 600 miles at night using the stars for navigation — something only humans and birds were known to do before. — A hunt for ghostly cosmic particles found anomalous signals coming from Antarctic ice. A new detector could help scientists explain what they are. — Researchers used DNA to reconstruct the face of a prehistoric woman who lived around 10,500 years ago in what's now Belgium, suggesting that skin color already varied considerably among different populations. Like what you've read? Oh, but there's more. Sign up here to receive in your inbox the next edition of Wonder Theory, brought to you by CNN Space and Science writers Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt and Jackie Wattles. They find wonder in planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.
CNN
2 hours ago
- CNN
Science recap: This week's discoveries include the fossilized skull of a mysterious, prehistoric human species
Tens of thousands of years ago, our species — Homo sapiens — mingled and interbred with other prehistoric humans: our distant cousins, the Neanderthals and Denisovans. Hundreds of Neanderthal fossils give us a good idea of their appearance, lives and relationships, but so little is known about Denisovans that they still don't have an official scientific name. Evidence of their existence has surfaced in faint traces, mapped by DNA markers that lurk in our own genetic makeup and confirmed by only a few fossil fragments. This week, however, a 146,000-year-old skull dredged out of a well in China in 2018 may just be a key missing piece to this cryptic evolutionary puzzle. A long time ago The nearly complete skull did not match any previously known species of prehistoric human. But two new studies — which researchers say are among the biggest paleoanthropology papers of the year — detail how scientists were able to extract genetic material from the fossil and help unravel this biological mystery. The DNA sample taken from 'Dragon Man,' as the specimen is called, revealed that he was in fact related to Denisovans, early humans who are thought to have lived between roughly 500,000 and 30,000 years ago. The finding could be monumental, helping to paint a fuller picture of a time when our own species coexisted with other prehistoric humans. Across the universe Astronomers have long grappled with the quandary of 'dark matter,' but plenty of enigmas surround regular matter as well. The proton-and-neutron-based atoms that we're familiar with are called baryonic matter. And this material is strewn between galaxies like intergalactic fog, making it extremely difficult to measure. Perhaps, that is, until now. A new study explains how scientists were able to observe the baryonic matter using the flashing of fast radio bursts. In a rare encounter, scientists have captured the first-ever footage of an elusive 3-foot-long squid alive in its deep-sea habitat. Unearthed Fruit, flowers, birds and musical instruments decorated the walls of a luxury villa — part of a site the excavation team dubbed the 'Beverly Hills' of Roman Britain — before the building was razed roughly 1,800 years ago. The frescoes were painstakingly pieced together by experts from the Museum of London Archaeology. Han Li, senior building material specialist at MOLA, described the effort as a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity. Romans invaded modern-day Britain in AD 43 and established Londinium, the precursor to modern London. The occupation lasted for almost 400 years. Curiosities Under the life-affirming glow of the sun, methane is a dangerous gas to be avoided. A heat-trapping chemical pollutant in Earth's atmosphere, methane exacerbates the climate crisis. But within the planet's deep recesses — thousands of feet below the ocean's surface off the US West Coast — the gas can be transformed into a nutritious meal. At least for spiders. Scientists say they've discovered three previously unknown species of sea spider living around methane seeps. In these marine habitats where sunlight can't reach, gas escapes through cracks in the seafloor and feeds bacteria that latch on to the spiders' exoskeletons. The bacteria convert carbon-rich methane and oxygen into sugars and fats the spiders can eat, according to a new study. The newfound Sericosura sea spiders may pass methane-fueled bacteria to their hatchlings as an easy source of food, the researchers suggest. Take note Check out these other must-read science stories from the week: — A SpaceX Starship rocket exploded during a routine ground test on Wednesday. Explore how this and other recent setbacks may affect the company's Mars ambitions. — A tiny brown moth in Australia migrates some 600 miles at night using the stars for navigation — something only humans and birds were known to do before. — A hunt for ghostly cosmic particles found anomalous signals coming from Antarctic ice. A new detector could help scientists explain what they are. — Researchers used DNA to reconstruct the face of a prehistoric woman who lived around 10,500 years ago in what's now Belgium, suggesting that skin color already varied considerably among different populations.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Science news this week: 'Dragon Man's' identity and the universe's 'missing matter'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. This week's science news reveals the identity of the mysterious "Dragon Man," while also finding clues to the universe's "missing matter." In 1933, a Chinese laborer in Harbin City discovered a human-like skull with a huge cranium, broad nose and big eyes. Just under 90 years later, experts gave this curious specimen a new species name — Homo longi, or "Dragon Man" — due to its unusual shape and size. But this classification has not gone unchallenged, with many scientists saying this skull belongs not to a new species, but instead to an ancient group of humans called Denisovans. Now, a pair of new studies claim to have finally put the mystery to bed. Another mystery that we came one step closer to solving this week is where the universe's "missing" matter is hiding. Ordinary or "baryonic" aryonic matter, which is composed of particles like protons and neutrons, makes up just 5% of the universe, but scientists have been able to observe only about half as much of it as they expected. To find the missing matter, researchers search for clues by studying short, extragalactic flashes known as fast radio bursts, which light up the intergalactic space that lies between them and Earth — and they may have just found some. Although very few long-term studies of psilocybin — the main psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms — as a treatment for depression have been conducted to date, new research presented this week at the Psychedelic Science 2025 conference suggests it can alleviate depression for at least five years after a single dose. The researchers found that 67% of study participants who had suffered from depression half a decade earlier remained in remission after a single psychedelic therapy session, while also reporting less anxiety and less difficulty functioning on a daily basis. Discover more health news —Iron deficiency in pregnancy can cause 'male' mice to develop female organs —The brain might have a hidden 'off switch' for binge drinking —Ketamine may treat depression by 'flattening the brain's hierarchies,' small study suggests The world is awash with the color purple — lavender flowers, amethyst gemstones, plums, eggplants and purple emperor butterflies. But if you look closely at the visible-light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, you'll notice that purple is absent. So does that mean the color doesn't really exist? Not necessarily. —If you enjoyed this, sign up for our Life's Little Mysteries newsletter Asking artificial intelligence reasoning models questions on topics like algebra or philosophy caused carbon dioxide emissions to spike significantly. Specialized large language models (LLMs), such as Anthropic's Claude, OpenAI's o3 and DeepSeek's R1, dedicate more time and computing power to producing more accurate responses than their predecessors, but a new study finds the cost could come at up to 50 times more carbon emissions than their more basic equivalents. While the study's findings aren't definitive — emissions may vary depending on the hardware used and the energy grids used to supply their power — the researchers hope their work should prompt AI users to think before deploying the more advanced technology. Read more planet technology news —This EV battery fully recharges in just 18 seconds — and it just got the green light for mass production —Hurricanes and sandstorms can be forecast 5,000 times faster thanks to new Microsoft AI model —China pits rival humanoids against each other in world's first 'robot boxing tournament' —14,000-year-old ice age 'puppies' were actually wolf sisters that dined on woolly rhino for last meal —Nobel laureate raises questions about AI-generated image of black hole spinning at the heart of our galaxy —Enslaved Africans led a decade-long rebellion 1,200 years ago in Iraq, new evidence suggests —Covering poop lagoons with a tarp could cut 80% of methane emissions from dairy farms —Satellite coated in ultra-dark 'Vantablack' paint will launch into space next year to help combat major issue The Colorado River snakes through seven U.S. and two Mexican states, and supplies some 40 million people, including those in Phoenix and Las Vegas, with their water needs. But as supplies of this surface water reach record lows, more and more people have been pumping groundwater from far below the surface. Stark new satellite data reveal that the Colorado River basin has lost huge amounts of groundwater over the last few decades, with some research suggesting that this groundwater could run out by the end of the century. But is that really the case? And if so, what could be done to prevent that happening? —How to see the groundbreaking space photos from the world's largest camera [Astronomy] —Instead of 'de-extincting' dire wolves, scientists should use gene editing to protect living, endangered species [Opinion] —Crows: Facts about the clever birds that live all over the world [Fact file] —Best thermal binoculars: Observe nocturnal wildlife after dark [Buying guide] —Watch David Attenborough's 'Ocean' from anywhere in the world with this NordVPN deal — and grab an Amazon voucher just in time for Prime Day [Deal] A massive eruption at Indonesia's Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki volcano sent giant plumes of ash spewing more than 6 miles (10 kilometers) into the skies on Tuesday (June 17), followed by a second eruption just a day later. This incredible mushroom-shaped cloud could be seen over 95 miles (150 km) away, and was accompanied by rumbling, lightning and thunder, typical of explosive eruptions that spew enormous amounts of material — much of which showered over nearby villages. Warning signs at Lewoboti Laki-laki prompted officials to raise the eruption alert to the highest level on Tuesday, according to a statement, and fortunately at time of writing there have been no reports of casualties. Want more science news? Follow our Live Science WhatsApp Channel for the latest discoveries as they happen. It's the best way to get our expert reporting on the go, but if you don't use WhatsApp we're also on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Flipboard, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky and LinkedIn.
