Could Neanderthal Mind Reveal What Made Modern Humans A Successful Species?

Scientists are growing ‘mini-brains’ containing Neanderthal genes. Could they reveal what made modern humans such a successful species?

- Jv Chamary

Humans are the only living species of hominin, a tribe of great apes that also includes our shorter, stockier, stronger – and extinct –cousins, the Neanderthals. These prehistoric relatives originated in Europe, colonised Asia and were successful for almost 250,000 years. But within 10,000 years of ‘anatomically modern humans’ appearing in Eurasia, following our last migration out of Africa over 50,000 years ago, Neanderthals had disappeared.

While the cause of extinction remains controversial, many academics believe our ancestors outcompeted Neanderthals by being smarter. Archaeological evidence tells us that we had burial rituals, cave art and tools that surpassed anything created by the Neanderthals – all thanks to an ability to innovate. “We could solve novel problems better,” says Prof Fred Coolidge, a psychologist at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and co-author of How To Think Like A Neandertal.

Unfortunately, we can’t go back in time to meet the Neanderthals and find out what made them tick. But new lab techniques are allowing us to do the previously unimaginable: recreate the Neanderthal mind in the lab. And it could give us the best chance yet of finding out why Homo sapiens survived while Homo neanderthalensis died out.

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