A particular gene, which leads to a taller nose, could have been the product of natural selection as Neanderthals adapted to the cold.
The researchers used data from more than 6000 people across Latin America, of mixed European, Native American and African ancestry. Results from the study are published in Nature Communications Biology and led by University College London researchers.
'It has long been speculated that the shape of our noses is determined by natural selection; as our noses can help us to regulate the temperature and humidity of the air we breathe in, different shaped noses may be better suited to different climates that our ancestors lived in.' said first author, Dr Qing Li, from Fudan University. 'The gene we have identified here may have been inherited from Neanderthals to help humans adapt to colder climates as our ancestors moved out of Africa.'
Find out more in an article written for the Independent.
