It was all over so quickly. Yet our ancestors' dalliance with their evolutionary neighbours, the Neanderthals – a brief encounter that took place about 65,000 years ago – should not be seen as a matter of regret. Indeed, our species was very much the better for the experience, according to a report published in Science.
A team led by Peter Parham from Stanford University School of Medicine in California has shown that interbreeding between the two species has left many modern humans with genes that are 2% to 3% Neanderthal, a DNA supplement that provided Homo sapiens with a major biological boost, it transpires. We acquired genes that strengthened our immune systems and that help us cope with viruses, bacteria and other pathogens to this day.
It is common to view Neanderthals as ignorant apemen. Yet their input into our gene pool improved our ancestors' lives immensely and meant they were not nearly as nasty, brutish and short as they could have been. We owe our grunting, club-wielding predecessors a short vote of thanks, in other words.