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A study of the genomes of Italians who have reached the age of 100 has found that they carry a higher proportion of genetic material from the ancestral group known as Western Hunter-Gatherers than the rest of the population, according to a Phys.org report. Researchers led by Stefania Sarno and Vincenzo Iannuzzi of the University of Bologna analyzed the genes of 333 Italian centenarians and 690 healthy adults around the age of 50. These genomes were then compared to more than 100 ancient genomes from four ancestral groups: Western Hunter-Gatherers, Neolithic Anatolian farmers, Bronze Age nomads, and ancient groups from...

There is a surprising, and little known, history connecting goats and the US Navy. But, then again, goats themselves have a surprising history. This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As very few images of the actual event are available in the Public Domain, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration. Note: Just because you can think up a reason to criticize doesn't mean that you are obligated to do so. Pedantic is not a compliment folks. Goats: A History | 18:17...

The identity of Jack the Ripper is the greatest mystery in the history of British crime. Swedish journalist Christer Holmgren has sifted through over 120 years of clues, searching for proof that will reveal the true killer. He believes he's finally found his man, and he's off to London to prove it. The Missing Evidence: Jack the Ripper (Full Episode) | 46:15 Smithsonian Channel | 4.28M subscribers | 2,473,885 views | August 23, 2015

A woman long believed to be the 'first Black Briton' was in fact white and had local ancestry from southern England, according to a new genetic study that overturns more than a decade of public perception.For years, scientists believed the woman, known as the Beachy Head Woman, came from sub-Saharan Africa. Her remains were discovered near the cliffs of Beachy Head in East Sussex and were widely presented as early evidence of African presence in Roman Britain...Her remains were first rediscovered in 2012 in Eastbourne Town Hall, stored in a box suggesting they were originally excavated in the 1950s. At...

European researchers have achieved a milestone in paleogenomics by sequencing RNA from a woolly mammoth specimen dating back approximately 39,000 to 40,000 years, roughly three times older than the previous record for ancient RNA. The RNA was recovered from a well-preserved juvenile mammoth known as Yuka, discovered in northern Siberian permafrost in 2010, according to Love Dalén, a professor of evolutionary genomics at Stockholm University and lead author of a study published in the journal Cell. Dalén told the Wall Street Journal that the findings could aid in identifying the genetic traits responsible for the mammoth’s distinctive woolly coat. The...

Scientists have discovered extinct strains of smallpox in the teeth of Viking skeletons - proving for the first time that the killer disease plagued humanity for at least 1400 years. Smallpox spread from person to person via infectious droplets, killed around a third of sufferers and left another third permanently scarred or blind. Around 300 million people died from it in the 20th century alone before it was officially eradicated in 1980 through a global vaccination effort - the first human disease to be wiped out... He said: "We discovered new strains of smallpox in the teeth of Viking skeletons...

The most direct way to answer the ancestry question is through genetics. Recent studies of ancient DNA (aDNA) have provided a robust, chronologically consistent picture of the Egyptian people’s origins, showing remarkable stability over thousands of years, followed by gradual admixture. Genetic evidence shows that the foundational population of the Nile Valley was established long before the first dynasty. During the “Green Sahara” period (approx. 11,000 to 5,000 years ago), populations migrated towards the Nile from all directions as the Sahara dried, creating a unique, indigenous mix of Northeast African peoples and migrants from the Near East. A breakthrough 2025...

A central claim among those who deny a link between ancient and modern Egyptians is that subsequent invasions replaced the original population. This is not supported by demographic, genetic, or linguistic evidence. Genetic studies show ancient Egypt DNA continues.The Greek and Roman Periods: The Ptolemaic Greeks and later the Romans ruled as small, elite minorities. Their demographic footprint on the overall gene pool of Egypt was negligible.The Arab Conquest (7th Century CE): This was the most significant cultural event, introducing Arabic and Islam. However, this was a case of elite dominance and cultural diffusion, not population replacement. The Genetic Impact:...

An international team of researchers have successfully recovered and analysed ancient DNA from Egyptian mummies dating from approximately 1400 BCE to 400 BCE, including the first genome-wide data from three individuals. The study found that modern Egyptians share more ancestry with sub-Saharan Africans than ancient Egyptians did, whereas ancient Egyptians were found to be most closely related to ancient people from the Middle East and Western Asia. This study counters prior scepticism about the possibility of recovering reliable ancient DNA from Egyptian mummies. Despite the potential issues of degradation and contamination caused by climate and mummification methods, the authors were...

The initial suspect, Judith Lord's neighbor, has been found responsible for her murder.The 1975 murder of Judith Lord in New Hampshire has now been solved through modern forensic science, the state Attorney General’s Office announced Monday. On May 20, 1975, Judith “Judy” Lord, 22, was found strangled to death in her home at the Concord Garden Apartments. The buildings operations manager, who went to Lord’s apartment to collect overdue rent, entered after hearing a baby’s persistent cries and discovered Lord lying unresponsive in an upstairs bedroom with a blue plastic sauna suit covering her face, officials said. Lord’s 20-month-old son...

For some scientists, there’s no place more romantic than a cheese cave. When Tufts University biologist Benjamin Wolfe, then a biology postdoc, shepherded his colleague Rachel to a surprise rendezvous with her boyfriend in a Vermont cheese cave, a marriage proposal ensued. And, according to Wolfe and his colleagues’ new paper in Current Biology, so did a discovery about evolution. Some cheese varieties are ripened in caves where they attract microbes—yeast, bacteria, and fungi (molds)—which form a rind on the cheese surface. Molds like Penicillium (the same genus that produces the human antibiotic, but a different species) spur the ripening...

Most modern dog breeds have small amounts of wolf ancestry from long after dogs were domesticated, according to a new study. The wolf DNA isn't left over from when dogs and wolves diverged; instead, it most likely came from interbreeding in the past few thousand years. That wolfish influence may be linked to certain characteristics, such as size and personality traits, in different dog breeds, researchers reported Nov. 24 in the journal PNAS. "Dogs are our buddies, but apparently wolves have been a big part of shaping them into the companions we know and love today," study co-author Logan Kistler,...

An award-winning Canadian-American author whose career was tied to his apparent indigenous ancestry has recently learned that he has no Cherokee roots.Thomas King revealed the findings on Monday in an opinion piece published in the Globe and Mail newspaper. The announcement follows a mid-November meeting with King and members of the Tribal Alliance Against Frauds, a US-based group dedicated to exposing people who falsely claim American Indian heritage. The 82-year-old said he accepts the findings of a genealogist with the organisation but writes in the essay: "I feel as though I've been ripped in half.""Not the Indian I had in...

According to a statement released by Eötvös Loránd University, an international team of researchers led by Tamás Hajdu of Eötvös Loránd University has identified a skeleton unearthed on Budapest's Margaret Island as the remains of Duke Béla of Macsó. The thirteenth-century duke is known to have been the maternal grandson of King Béla IV of Hungary and a member of the Scandinavian Rurik dynasty, which ruled Kievan Rus, on his father's side. Austrian historical accounts attest that the duke was assassinated in November 1272, and that his body was recovered by relatives and buried in a monastery on Margaret Island....

A 55-year-old mystery about a Canadian woman who seemingly fell off the face of the Earth was partially solved earlier this month with the announcement from Metro police that human remains found in the desert more than half a century ago had finally been identified. Las Vegas mob duo tied to 55-year-old cold case murder | 5:50 8 News Now -- Las Vegas | 404K subscribers | 106,607 views | November 18, 2025

A new breakthrough shows that some of biology’s most fragile molecules can persist far deeper into the past than scientists ever imagined. By decoding ancient gene activity from Ice Age remains, researchers have opened a window into the real-time biology of long-extinct animals. Credit: Shutterstock =========================================================================== For the first time, researchers have uncovered Ice Age RNA preserved within permafrost mammoth tissue, offering a rare glimpse into real-time gene activity from tens of millennia ago. Researchers at Stockholm University have, for the first time ever, isolated and sequenced RNA molecules from woolly mammoths that lived during the Ice Age. The team...

Lentil plant grown at Fuerteventura. Credit: Fayna Brenes =============================================================== Ancient lentils preserved in volcanic silos link modern Canarian crops to 2,000-year-old North African origins. Lentils cultivated in the Canary Islands today have roots that extend nearly 2,000 years into the past. This finding comes from the first-ever genetic study of archaeological lentils, conducted by researchers at Linköping University and the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain. Because these lentils have been adapted for centuries to thrive in hot and arid environments, they may offer valuable genetic traits for future crop breeding in response to ongoing climate change....

Researchers have analyzed a sample of DNA believed to belong to Adolf Hitler, which they say reveals the dictator of Nazi Germany had a genetic marker for a rare disorder that can delay puberty, according to a new documentary. The research, which took more than four years to complete, was led by geneticist Turi King, a professor at the UK’s University of Bath who is known for identifying the remains of King Richard III. King said she verified that a piece of material taken from a couch in the bunker where Hitler shot himself in 1945 was soaked in the...

We marked last week the death at age 97 of James D. Watson (1928 – 2025), co-discoverer with Francis Crick of the structure of DNA. Reflecting on his life leads to contradictory responses: a hero of science, whose work led to insights pointing to life’s intelligent design, he was also a bigoted atheist and champion of pseudoscientific racism.The names Watson and Crick are almost as iconic as the DNA double helix that they elucidated in 1953, for which they won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Maurice Wilkins. One discovery led to another: Crick’s sequence hypothesis...

Everyone knows Beethoven went deaf, but nobody really knew what killed him until now. Let’s get into it. For centuries, people talked about his genius and his misery like they were the same thing. And as it turns out, they kinda were. The man who gave the world symphonies was being poisoned every single day of his life. Scientists have tested the locks of hair that fans snipped from his head when he died in 1827. And what they found was pure mayhem. His body was loaded with lead, arsenic, and mercury. His wine, his medicine, even the glass he...