New research has shown that our early ancestors almost went extinct some 900,000 years ago. Using a new method called FitCoal (fast infinitesimal time coalescent process), researchers analysed the likelihood of present-day genome sequences to project current human genomic variation backwards in time. They applied the technique to the genomes of 3,154 people from 10 African and 40 non-African populations, and found a massive crash in genetic diversity during the transition between the early and middle Pleistocene. “Results showed that human ancestors went through a severe population bottleneck with about 1,280 breeding individuals between around 930,000 and 813,000 years ago,” the study authors wrote in the journal Science. “The bottleneck lasted for about 117,000 years and brought human ancestors close to extinction,” they say. Wiping out roughly 98.7 percent of the ancestral human population, “the bottleneck could also have increased the inbreeding level of our ancestors, thus contributing to the 65.85 percent loss in present-day human genetic diversity,” explained the researchers. This probably happened because of changes in the global climate as short-term glaciations became longer-lasting, triggering a drop in ocean temperatures, prolonged drought, and the loss of large numbers of species that humans might have relied on for food. Then, around 813,000 years ago, populations finally recovered, with a 20-fold increase in numbers because of fire combined with the return of warmer temperatures, researchers reckon. What a near miss, eh? Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The mother of Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Josh Lowe and Texas Rangers first baseman Nathaniel Lowe will not make the trip to Tropicana Field for this week’s AL wild-card playoff series featuring her sons because she is battling cancer and undergoing chemotherapy

Ticketmaster has abruptly postponed ticket sales for six of Taylor Swift's upcoming shows in France

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said Friday it has approved more than $5.6 million in assistance to nearly 2,000 households in Maui so far as the federal government tries to help survivors of the devastating wildfires

MrBeast is known to venture in different types of business models

The US president is facing criticism over his decision to send the controversial weapons to Ukraine.

'When he would be in full Tedros mode sometimes, I would steer clear of him,' said Lily-Rose Depp referring to Abel 'The Weeknd' Tesfaye

Pakistan won vital breathing space from a potential debt default thanks to a draft agreement with the International

The James Webb Space Telescope, launched on Christmas Day in 2021, was designed by NASA to unravel the mysteries of our solar system

‘Today’ host Jenna Bush Hager was disgusted by Hoda Kotb’s weird revelation

The streets of Sierra Leone's capital were quiet on Wednesday, a day after President Julius Maada Bio was sworn in for a second term following an election his main...

Some people browse TikTok and Instagram for recipes, memes and colorful takes on the news. Erin Coleman says her 14-year-old daughter uses these apps to search for videos about mental health diagnoses.