Trending Now - Study Finds Neanderthal Intelligence Surprising, Not Fatal
WHO:
ScienceAlert - An international team of anthropologists conducted the study.
Live Science - Tom Schoenemann, an anthropologist at Indiana University Bloomington, is the first author of the study.
WHAT:
ScienceAlert - The study suggests that Neanderthals were capable of human-like speech, although this is difficult to ascertain from fossil evidence.
Live Science - The researchers found that the largest differences between Neanderthal and modern human brains were correlated with attention and inhibition, indicating that Neanderthals may have had slightly lower executive functioning ability.
ScienceAlert - The study found that the volume differences between Neanderthal and modern human brains are extremely small.
Live Science - The researchers compared two large MRI datasets of 100 ethnic Han Chinese and 100 Americans with European ancestry.
Live Science - In nearly 70% of the brain regions assessed, the volume differences between the Chinese and American brains were larger than those found between Neanderthals and early modern humans.
Live Science - The study suggests that Neanderthals did not go extinct due to a lack of intelligence but rather due to demographic and genetic factors.
WHERE:
ScienceAlert - The Neanderthal fossil was unearthed in the Neander Valley, near Düsseldorf, Germany.
Live Science - The study involved brain scans from populations in the US and China.
WHEN:
Live Science - The study was published on April 27, 2026, in the journal PNAS.
WHY:
Live Science - The researchers concluded that demographic and genetic swamping, rather than innate cognitive differences, is the most likely cause of Neanderthal replacement, echoing recent research on the integration of H. sapiens into Neanderthal populations.
ScienceAlert - The study challenges the long-held belief that cognitive differences between Neanderthals and modern humans were significant enough to explain the extinction of Neanderthals.
Live Science - The researchers argue that demographic and genetic swamping, rather than innate cognitive differences, likely contributed to the Neanderthal replacement.
HOW:
Live Science - The researchers noted that their study only compared the brains of Chinese and American people, suggesting that larger differences may exist among other modern human populations.
ScienceAlert - The researchers reviewed existing literature and analyzed brain anatomy to draw their conclusions.
Live Science - The study compared brain anatomy variations in modern human populations to those of Neanderthals to assess cognitive implications.
(UPDATED April 28, 2026 13:28 UTC)
A recent study suggests that Neanderthals may have been capable of human-like speech, although confirming this from fossil evidence remains challenging. Researchers found that the most significant differences between Neanderthal and modern human brains were linked to attention and inhibition, indicating that Neanderthals might have had slightly lower executive functioning abilities. They concluded that demographic and genetic swamping, rather than innate cognitive differences, likely explains the replacement of Neanderthals, while noting that their comparisons were limited to the brains of Chinese and American individuals, hinting at the possibility of larger differences among other modern human populations.
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(UPDATED April 28, 2026 07:55 UTC)
An international team of anthropologists, led by Tom Schoenemann from Indiana University Bloomington, has published a study revealing that the volume differences between Neanderthal and modern human brains are extremely small. By comparing MRI datasets from 100 ethnic Han Chinese and 100 Americans with European ancestry, the researchers found that in nearly 70% of the assessed brain regions, the volume differences between the two modern human populations were larger than those between Neanderthals and early modern humans. This study challenges the belief that cognitive differences led to the extinction of Neanderthals, suggesting instead that demographic and genetic factors played a more significant role.