Researchers at Harvard Medical School are using modern sequencing technologies to learn more about our past. Scientists have samples of human bones that are thousands of years old, and using the DNA inside, they can learn more about how humans migrated and interacted. This video from PBS News Hour has more information.
Archaeologists and museums from all over the world have made donations to this project, which has enabled investigators in the lab of David Reich to learn about human migration with unprecedented detail. They have been propelled by advances in DNA sequencing technology.
Reich was part of the team that discovered that humans and Neanderthals mated and that some people still carry Neanderthal DNA today. That’s not the only finding from this line of research. Scientists have also learned that human populations have experienced a lot of changes, and that migration is built into the story of human history.
