News Humans

A gene tied to facial development hints humans domesticated themselves

Called BAZ1B, it may also help explain why domesticated animals look cuter than their wild kin

Illustration of a modern human skull and a Neandertal skull

Modern humans (left in this illustration) have flatter, smaller faces than Neandertals (right) did. Now researchers are implicating a gene that affects movement of some developmentally important cells in that change.

heavypred/DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images

By Tina Hesman Saey

- More than 2 years ago

Domestic animals’ cuteness and humans’ relatively flat faces may be the work of a gene that controls some important developmental cells, a study of lab-grown human cells suggests.