U.S. Federal Support for Human Origins Research May Be Over
Federal support for human origins research in the United States is at its lowest point since World War II. The National Science Foundation’s FY 2027 budget request calls for eliminating the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, which houses anthropology and archaeology programs, and FY 2026 grant awards in that directorate have already fallen to near zero. Parallel cuts at the NIH and tighter Fulbright review criteria further shrink the federal safety net for fieldwork and dissertation projects. The author warns that without new private or institutional support, U.S. scholars risk losing a competitive edge as other nations increase their investment.
Genomes From Tombs of the Golden Horde, and the Y Chromosome of Genghis Khan
A new PNAS paper by Ayken Askapuli et al. presents ancient DNA from four medieval tombs in central Kazakhstan attributed to the Golden Horde. Radiocarbon dating places three individuals in the early‑mid 1300s and one in the 1700s, disproving local legends...
Matrilineal Networks May Be the Key to Understanding Neanderthal Mixture
A team led by Alexander Platt, Daniel Harris and Sarah Tishkoff published a new Science paper showing that early African DNA entered Neanderthal genomes about 250,000 years ago, leaving a strong excess of African ancestry on the Neanderthal X chromosome....