What can archaic introgression tell us about archaic humans and about ourselves?

Every person alive today inherited some portion of their genomes from Neanderthals, Denisovans, and other archaic humans — but what does that mean for us? Do these archaic variants affect the way our bodies work? 

Fernando Villanea is a population geneticist and professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder, who researches how Neanderthal and Denisovan ancestry impacts the life and health of modern people. In this presentation he discusses the impact of archaic variants on pharmacogenes, genes that help us metabolize plant chemicals that we ingest through our diet, which also includes most modern medical drugs.

Moderator: Briana Pobiner, paleoanthropologist and educator at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

This Zoom video webinar aired January 18, 2024.

Learn more about the HOT Topic series and get info about upcoming webinars on the museum's Events for Adults page: https://naturalhistory.si.edu/events/...

Smithsonian's Human Origins Website: https://humanorigins.si.edu/