Ancient DNA

Pääbo, the director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, developed methods to recover, sequence, and analyze ancient DNA [blank] fossils - a feat that took decades. Researchers are using the techniques today to answer fundamental questions about human history and the planet's deep [blank] . Many of the discoveries upend assumptions about prehistoric times. When Pääbo's lab in Leipzig sequenced the first Neanderthal genome in 2010, many [blank] startled to learn that our own species, Homo sapiens, encountered and had babies with Neanderthals. Paleogenetics has continued to tease out astonishing secrets from DNA hidden in bones, teeth - even dirt. The Black Death, the world's most devastating plague outbreak, killed half of medieval Europe's population in the space of seven years in the 14th century, shifting the [blank] of human history. Analysis of centuries-old DNA from both victims and survivors of the Black Death identified key [blank] differences that helped people survive the plague, according to a study published in the journal Nature.