Our distant relatives

Alison George

This time next year, our understanding of our origins will have been transformed.

Molecules in the fossils of our ancestors are increasingly opening a new window on the evolution of the first hominids. Recently, the limits of this approach have been pushed further, with analysis of dental enamel proteins from a 2-million-year-old fossil of the extinct giant ape Gigantopithecus . And DNA as old as 400,000 years has been recovered from hominin ancestors of Neanderthals. So the ability to identify even older skeletal remains looks promising. …