We Aren’t Unique: How Other Human Species Shaped Modern Human DNA (New Scientist Documentary)

We aren’t unique. Once upon a time a number of different human species existed – not all at the same time but over the course of hundreds of thousands of years. And, it seems, we got more than a little “Discovery Channel” with a lot of them. So much so, that it has been established that a maximum of 7% of our DNA originated in our species, Homo Sapiens. The rest came from other human species, the Neanderthals, Denisovans and some yet-to-be identified species who are still referred to as “ghost populations” as we haven’t yet discovered any remains. This short documentary by New Scientist is presented by Ella al-Shamahi, who comes across as approachably clever, although I would never want to be playing against her in a game of chess. Here she delves into the discoveries that rewrote human evolution in a clear and understandable way (you could call this Denisovans for Dummies if you wanted to get alliterative). The documentary also covers not only why mating with already established…