
Who Were the Neandertals?
Controversial evidence indicates that these hominids interbred with anatomically modern humans and sometimes behaved in surprisingly modern ways
Kate Wong is an award-winning science writer and senior editor for features at Scientific American, where she has focused on evolution, ecology, anthropology, archaeology, paleontology and animal behavior. She is fascinated by human origins, which she has covered for nearly 30 years. Recently she has become obsessed with birds. Her reporting has taken her to caves in France and Croatia that Neandertals once called home to the shores of Kenya’s Lake Turkana in search of the oldest stone tools in the world, as well as to Madagascar on an expedition to unearth ancient mammals and dinosaurs, the icy waters of Antarctica, where humpback whales feast on krill, and a “Big Day” race around the state of Connecticut to find as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. Wong is co-author, with Donald Johanson, of Lucy’s Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins. She holds a bachelor of science degree in biological anthropology and zoology from the University of Michigan. Follow her on Bluesky @katewong.bsky.social

Who Were the Neandertals?
Controversial evidence indicates that these hominids interbred with anatomically modern humans and sometimes behaved in surprisingly modern ways

MAMMAL MELEE
New fossils impugn leading model of early mammal origins

CAVE INN
A visit to a Neanderthal home

IS OUT OF AFRICA GOING OUT THE DOOR?
Reanalysis of gene studies and new fossil evidence cast doubts of a popular theory of human origins

CETACEAN CREATION
New fossils leave researchers wondering where whales come from

Face Off
Three-dimensional imaging stands in for fossils

Shaking the Family Tree
A new fossil leaves former theories out on a limb

Ancestral Quandary
Neanderthals not our ancestors? Not so fast

Neanderthal Notes
Did ancient humans play modern scales?

Moroto Morass
A fossil ape unexpectedly resembles modern apes and humans