A Roman-era skeleton discovered in southern England has finally given up her secrets after more than a decade of debate.

A previously unknown strain of syphilis bacteria has been discovered in human remains in Colombia, dating back 5,500 years.

The first known outbreak of syphilis in Europe began at the turn of the 16th century, but on the distant continent of South ...

Researchers have reconstructed ancient herpesvirus genomes from Iron Age and medieval Europeans, revealing that HHV-6 has been infecting humans for at least 2,500 years. Some people inherited the ...

The human genome is made up of 23 pairs of chromosomes, the biological blueprints that make humans … well, human. But it turns out that some of our DNA — about 8% — are the remnants of ancient viruses ...

A stretch of viral DNA in the mouse genome gives cells in early-stage embryos the potential to become almost any cell type in ...

Researchers recovered ancient DNA from a 5,500-year-old skeleton in Colombia and reconstructed a genome related to Treponema pallidum. The lineage predates known syphilis strains by ~3,000 years, ...

The study of ancient DNA has revolutionised our understanding of human history, enabling scientists to decipher complex population dynamics over tens of thousands of years. By analysing genetic ...

Link found between super-agers, or people with exceptional longevity, to inherited DNA from Ice Age hunter-gatherer populations in Europe.

Cheetahs vanished from Saudi Arabia half a century ago. Now long-dead mummified big cats may help herald their return.