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2024-11-11

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Oldest known human viruses found hidden within Neanderthal bones (www.newscientist.com)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Please keep them there. Do not let the bone viruses out of their prisons.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 7 months ago

We may already have resistance to them, by sharing up to 2% of neanderthal DNA. Viruses can alter the host genetically, and those mutations are passed on to offspring. Ancient to current viruses make up to 8% of human DNA.

https://www.science.org/content/article/viral-fossils-our-dna-may-help-us-fight-infection