Edward M. “Eddy” Rubin, director of the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, called the major project “a terrific piece of work and a monumental endeavor,”The project’s scientists used tiny specks of powdered bone retrieved from three Neanderthal females who died in a Croatian cave more than 40,000 years ago to complete the draft of the Neanderthal genome. They then compared the genes to those of modern humans living today in five different regions of the world: France, Papua New Guinea, China, and southern and northern Africa.
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