In May 2010 Svante Paabo's team at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology published the first draft of the Neanderthal genome, reconstructed from bone fragments of three women found in Vindija Cave in Croatia. Comparison with living people showed that people of non-African ancestry carry between 1 and 4 per cent Neanderthal DNA, evidence of interbreeding after modern humans left Africa about 60,000 years ago. Some Neanderthal gene variants influence immunity, skin and hair and even the risk of severe COVID-19.
Before and after
- 20102010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
- 2010Crisis in Venezuela
- 2010Release of Viber
- 2010The Denisovans are identified
- 2010The Neanderthal genome is published
- 20102010 becomes the warmest year on record
- 2010Global life expectancy reaches 70 years
- 4 January 2010Construction of Burj Khalifa
- 12 January 20102010 Haiti earthquake
More in Science & technology
- 1949Discovery of berkelium
- 1955Discovery of mendelevium
- 1958Discovery of nobelium
- c. 1980sInvention of laptop
- 9 November 1994Discovery of darmstadtium
- 8 December 1994Discovery of roentgenium
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 21st century.