Think your coworker's a Neanderthal? You may be right

A Neanderthal skeleton (right). Frank Franklin.

 

 

Humans and Neanderthals interbred thousands of years ago. 

Researchers have found that a small part of the human X chromosome, which originates from Neanderthals, is present in about 9 per cent individuals outside Africa.

"Somewhere very early on, there was an encounter between Neanderthals and humans."

Scientists compared DNA from 6,000 individuals around the world to the Neanderthal genome.  They found that people from all continents except sub-Saharan Africa shared a haplotype with Neanderthals, pointing to "intimate contact" between humans and Neanderthals 50,000 to 70,000 years ago.  Neanderthals went extinct about 30,000 years ago.