Archive: https://archive.today/wOv51 From the post: >>Scientists have long speculated what caused the downfall of the Neanderthals, but a new study suggests they never truly went extinct at all. Scientists in Italy and Switzerland claim the ancient group of archaic humans didn't experience a 'true extinction' because their DNA exists in people today. Over as little as 10,000 years, our species, Homo sapeins, mated and produced offspring with Neanderthals as part of a gradual 'genetic assimilation'. 'Our results highlight genetic admixture as a possible key mechanism driving their disappearance,' say the experts in a new paper.