Are you an early bird? You might have some Neanderthal genes.

Are you a morning person? If so, you might have inherited ancient DNA from human ancestors like Neanderthals that predispose you to waking up early, according to a new study published in Genome Biology and Evolution.

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How ancient DNA may impact our circadian rhythms

Predecessors to modern humans, including Neanderthals and Denisovans, lived for hundreds of thousands of years before they disappeared from the fossil record around 40,000 years ago. When these species were still alive, they sometimes interbred with modern humans, and fragments of their DNA can still be found in...