In 2014 John Cryan, a professor at University College Cork in Ireland, attended a meeting in California about Alzheimer’s disease. He wasn’t an expert on dementia. Instead, he studied the microbiome, the trillions of microbes inside the healthy human body.

Dr. Cryan and other scientists were beginning to find hints that these microbes could influence the brain and behavior. Perhaps, he told the scientific gathering, the microbiome has a role in the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

Continue reading “Germs in Your Gut Are Talking to Your Brain. Scientists Want to Know What They’re Saying.” →

In the 1800s, thousands of Aboriginal Australians were the victims of a terrible trade in the name of science. Anatomists opened their graves and stole their skeletons. After massacres of Aboriginal Australians, police officers sold body parts to museums.

Today, many of these bones lie far from home.

“Our old people’s remains have been stolen from this country, and they’re global, whether they be in London, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland — even in America,” said Gudju Gudju Fourmile, an elder of the Yidniji and Gimuy Walubara people in northern Australia.

Continue reading “‘Spirits Won’t Rest’: DNA Links Ancient Bones to Living Aboriginal Australians” →

People who sign up for genetic testing from companies like 23andMe can find out how much of their DNA comes from Neanderthals. For those whose ancestry lies outside Africa, that number usually falls somewhere between 1 percent and 2 percent.

Scientists are still a long way from understanding what inheriting a Neanderthal gene means to people. Some Neanderthal genes may be helpful — improving our defenses against infections, for example — but other bits may leave carriers slightly more prone to certain diseases.

Continue reading “Narrower Skulls, Oblong Brains: How Neanderthal DNA Still Shapes Us” →