2011 Science News of the Year: Humans

While the Han Chinese (left) don’t show genetic contributions from Denisovans, Australian Aborigines (right) do.
BLACKRED/ISTOCKPHOTO; GARY RADLER/ISTOCKPHOTO

Asia takes a bow

Often overlooked as a geographic player in human evolution, Asia has stepped into the scientific spotlight. New comparisons of ancient and modern DNA indicate that Stone Age humans migrated to Asia in two stages.

At least 44,000 years ago, initial arrivals in Southeast Asia interbred with a humanlike population known as Denisovans that apparently had spread southward from Siberia.