[skeptoid]

"Neanderthals are often thought of as the stray branch in the human family tree, but research now suggests the modern human is likely the odd man out."

Not likely. Neanderthal was NEVER an ancestor of modern man. I know that's blasphemy to many, but look these up if you disagree:

Matthias Krings et al., "Neanderthal DNA Sequences and the Origin of Modern Humans," Cell 90 (1997)-30

Matthias Krings et al., "DNA Sequence of the Mitochondrial Hypervariable Region II from the Neanderthal Type Specimen," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 96 (1999): 5581-85

Igor V. Ovchinnikov et al., "Molecular Analysis of Neanderthal DNA from the Northern Caucasus," Nature 404 (2000): 490-93

Matthias Krings et al., "A View of Neanderthal Genetic Diversity," Nature Genetics 26 (2000): 144-46.

Ralf W. Schmitz et al., "The Neanderthal Type Site Revisited: Interdisciplinary Investigations of Skeletal Remains from the Neander Valley, Germany," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 99 (2002): 13342-47.

The (mitochondrial) DNA sequences were from five specimens from widely separated sites over a period of years.
According to the DNA, Neanderthal was NOT a human ancestor.

Funny you don't hear much about this, isn't it?

[Coyoteman]

According to the DNA, Neanderthal was NOT a human ancestor.

Funny you don't hear much about this, isn't it?

There were several threads on these discoveries right here on FR.

Recently they made some breakthroughs in sequencing smaller and smaller segments of DNA, so ancient DNA samples which could not be analyzed in the past may be sources of new data. I think there was at least one thread on this as well.

[RightWhale]

We have heard plenty about it here on FR.