Mystery One: Did we mate with Neanderthals and have viable offspring? If so, what genetics did we get from them? Yes, we interbred, but apparently, only male Homosapien-female Neanderthal pairings survived or were fertile. From the Neanderthal genes we got enhanced viral immunity, but also predispositions for ailments such as lupus, Crohn’s disease, type 2 diabetes, actinic keratosis, and depression.

Mystery Two: Neanderthals lived in Europe for more than 250,000 years. When we (Homosapiens) arrived on the scene about 45,000 years ago, they disappeared quickly—forever. What happened? Five major factors played a role in the Neanderthal demise: 1) Homicide by modern humans; 2) Disease brought by modern humans; 3) Competition for food and resources; 4) Our larger population absorbed their smaller one; and 5) Climate change brought on by the Campanian ignimbrite eruption.

Mystery Three: Why is an Australian aborigine genetically more similar to a Scandinavian than an African tribesman is to a member of a different African tribe? A small subset of the African population (with their relative lack of genetic diversity) left Africa about 70,000 years ago, and they populated the rest of the world.

In addition to answering these and other intriguing questions, we’ll discuss the huge breakthroughs coming from ancient DNA analysis, and the different information we get from the three types of DNA.