Fossil records show that the most recent shared ancestor with modern humans may have lived at least 800,000 years ago.

A mandible dating to 160,000 years ago is the first evidence of Denisovan hominins outside the Russian cave where they were first discovered in 2010.

The dating of stone tools in China puts members of the Homo genus there more than 2 million years ago.

The function of early hominins’ enlarged brow ridges, and their reduction in size in Homo sapiens, have puzzled paleoanthropologists for decades.

Three members of a gene family called NOTCH2NL may have been involved in the evolution of humans’ big cortex.

The retention of ancient hominin DNA in modern human genomes may have helped our ancestors adapt to life in diverse environments. 

Symbiotic gut bacteria evolved and diverged along with ape and human lineages, researchers find. 

Remnants of fires indicate modern humans may have lived around the same time as Homo floresiensis.

The 700,000-year-old teeth and jawbones of small hominins may be the oldest remnants of Homo floresiensis.