Every year ancient DNA research deepens our understanding of history a bit more, and 2018 was truly a remarkable year for ancient DNA research. "Reconstructing the genetic history of late Neanderthals"), which gave us insights into the structure of their genetic diversity. New insights into the genetic history of the Indigenous peoples of the AmericasI can’t remember another year in which we learned so many new things about the history of Indigenous American populations from ancient DNA. These are just some of the fascinating things that ancient DNA research revealed about history this year. Ancient DNA research is not regulated in the same way that genetics research with contemporary peoples are, and this year has seen an ongoing conversation about how the increasing pace and “industrialization” of ancient DNA research may be exacerbating existing carelessness about ethical concerns of descendent communities and other stakeholders--something that is all-too-common in this discipline.

Source: Forbes December 27, 2018 17:48 UTC