Scientists in Germany Identify First Hybrid Hominin

GERMANY INVESTS MORE THAN INEXPENSIVE LIVING COSTS THE UNITED STATES, THE UNITED KINGDOM OR FRANCE ON R&D. GERMANY INVESTS MORE THAN INEXPENSIVE LIVING COSTS THE UNITED STATES, THE UNITED KINGDOM OR FRANCE ON R&D.

GERMANY RANKS 4TH IN THE SKILLED STUDENTS GERMANY RANKS 4TH IN THE SKILLED STUDENTS WORLD FOR APPLICATIONSW OFROLDR F OR APPLICATIONS FOR INTERNATIONAL PATENTS.INTERNATIONAL PATENTS.

GERMANY'S FEED-IN TARIFF SCHEME OFFERS FINANCIAL THE JOY OF FAHRVERGNUGEN GERMANY'S FEED-IN TARIFINFC ENTIVES TO THOSE WHO GENERATE AND EXPORT SCHEME OFFERS FINANCIAELL ECTRICITY FROM RENEWABLE THE JOY OF FAHRVERGNUGEN INCENTIVES TO THOSE WHSOO URCES LIKE WIND TURBINES AND SOLAR PANELS. GENERATE AND EXPORT ELECTRICITY FROM RENEWABLE CHRISTMAS CASH SOURCES LIKE WIND TURBIN“FUENDSI NG LEVELS ARE AND SOLAR PANELS. CONTINUALLY CLIMBING YOU CAN COUNT ON FUNDING WHEN IT GERMANY INVESTSCO MOMESR TEO TPHALANNN ING A CAREER.” INEXPENSIVE LIVING COSTS THE UNITED STATES, THE UNITED RESCEAHRCRHI S& TDEMAVELOSP MCEANST SPHENDING KINGDOM OR FRANCE ON R&D. CHANCE FOR SCIENCE “FUNDING LEVELS ARE is a dating-style website that connects refugees with a scienti c background with German CONTINUALLY CLIMBING acade YmOicsU f or professional collaborations. It’s run by Carmen Bachmann, a tax and nance professor at Leipzig University, and began in 2015. CAN COUNTG OERNMA FUNNYD RIANNGK SW 4HTEHN IN I TH E STABLE GROWTH COMES TO PLANNING A CAREER.” very good in the Netherlands, butSK IofLL EcourseD STUD ENTS WORLD FOR APPLICATIONS FOR here, it is much more affordable,” Wlodarczyk- SCIENTISTS IN GERMANY INTERNATIONAL PATENTS. Biegun says. RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT SPEIDENTIFYNDING FIRST HYBRID HOMININ 86 PER CENT OF REFUGEES LEAVING SYRIA REPORT HAVING DNA sequencing reveals the earliest recorded incidence A HIGH SCHOOL OR UNIVERSITY COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH CHANCE FOR SCIENCE DEGREE. of interbreeding between human ancestors. is a dating-stylGeE webRMAsitNeY' thatS F EEconDn-eINct Ts ArefRIuFgFe es with a scienti Sc CbaHcEkMgrEo OunFFd EwithRS F GerINAmNaCnI AL THE JOY OF FAHRVERGNUGEN academics for IpNrCofeENssTiIonVEaSl coll TO abTHoOratioSE Wns.H IOt’ s run by Carmen Bachmann, a tax and nance professor COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH at Leipzig UnivGerEsitNEyR, andATE bAeNgaDn E inXAP 20 €O5R1.4T5- M. ILLION INITIATIVE ELECTRICITY FROMAI MRSE TNOE IWNCARBELASEE THE PROPORTION OF WOMEN IN Germany has more than 270 collaborativeOPEN-STMINABDLEDEN EGRS S OWTH SOURCES LIKE WINSEDN TIOURR POBINSITEIOSN S FROM research centres that are funded by the German AND SOLAR PANELS9%. TO 24% BY 2020. Research Foundation (DFG) for periods of up to 12 years, giving researchers the time to work on complex, long-term, multidisciplinaryCHRISTMA proS C-ASH jects across universities and institutes. In 2017, 86 PER CEN“TF U ONFD IRNEGF LUGEVELESS A RE the DFG spent nearly €3.2 billionFR onEE HresearchIGHER EDUC ATION €4.3BN. RECORD LEVELS OF funding. Such spending efforts are paying off, LEAVING SYCROINAT RINEUPAOLLRYT C HLIAMVBIINNG YOU says cancer researcher Ivan Dikic, who is origi- A HIGH SCHCOAONL C OORUN UTN OINV FEURNSDIITNYG WHEN IT nally from Croatia but has been in CGermanyOLLABOR ATIVE RESEARCH COMES TO PLANNING A CAREER.” for 15 years and now heads the biochemistry ANTHROPOLOGY EVOLUTIONARY FOR PLANCK INSTITUTE

DEGREE. BENCE VIOLA, MAX THOMAS HIGHAM, UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD; department at Goethe Universityb R EFrankfurt.SEARCH & D EVELOPMENT SPENDING “The German government has investedAFFORDABL aE ClotHIL DCARE Bone fragments that represent the daughter of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father TO RELAX ITS MIGRATION POLICY more money in top-classc a science, and that (left). Excavation works inside (centre) and the view from above the Denisova Cave, Russia. AND ATTRACT MORE SKILLED attracts a lot of highly talented people,” he says. CHANCE FOR SCIENWCOERKERS FROM OUTSIDE THE EU. is a dating-style website that connects refugees BY NEIL SAVAGE proteins. They were then passed to Slon A €5.4-MILLwitIOh Na sc IieNnIti TIcA baTcIkVgrEo und with German academics for professional collaborations. It’s run and Pääbo’s institute for DNA sequencing. AIMS TO INCbyR CEarmenASE Ba TcHhmEan n, a tax and nance professor Roughly 90,000 years ago, a Neanderthal Pääbo has been working with the Russian at Leipzig University, and began in 2015. OPEN-MINDEDNESS PROPORTION OF WOMEN IN STABLE GROWTH female mated with a Denisovan male and Academy for a long time, Slon says, and SENIOR POSITIONS FROM gave birth to a daughter — the earliest his lab has developed techniques to deal known offspring of two distinct hominin with the special challenges of ancient DNA, 9% TO 24% BY 2020. OPEN-MINDEDNESS groups. The researchers who sequenced which degrades over time and has gone her genome from a bone fragment found through certain chemical modifications. In Historically, Germany’s strong economy has in a cave announced the discovery in addition to its department of evolutionary 86 PER CENT OF REFUGEES been spurred by migration. More than 10 mil- August 2018 (Slon, V. et al. Nature 561, genetics, where Slon and Pääbo are LEAVING SYRIA REPORT HAVING lion people living in Germany are not German 113–116; 2018). based, the institute has departments of A HIGH SCHOOL OR UNIVERSITY citizens, with the majority of migrantsCOLLAB comORAT-IVE RESEARCHScientists knew from DNA evidence primatology, of human evolution and of FREE HIGHER EDUthatCAT theION two extinct groups of humans human behaviour, ecology and culture, DEGREE. ing from Turkey, Poland and Syria. Every fifth €4.3BN. RECORD LEVELS OF German has a ‘migrant background’ in that must have interbred, but they had never and interdepartmental collaborations they were either not born as a German citi- found a first-generation offspring before. have helped scientists to piece together zen or have at least one parent who migrated The closest they had come was finding pictures of ancient humans from different to Germany. When it comes to research, too, a Homo sapiens specimen that had lines of evidence. “You can tackle A €5.4-MILLION INITIATIVE Germany has started to attract more talent Neanderthal ancestry from four to six questions from different angles, so I AIMS TO INCREASE THE from abroad, says Dikic. “I’ve been here for generations previously. think that’s why the institute is quite well PROPORTION OF WOMEN IN 15 years, and what I can say is thatOPEN- the MINscienDE-DNESS Viviane Slon and Svante Pääbo, palaeo- known,” Slon says. tific landscape has becomeb more international geneticists at the Max Planck Institute for Slon, who earned her bachelor’s and SENIOR POSITIONS FROM and more collaborative, with more talentAFFO fromRDAB LE CHILEvolutionaryDCARE Anthropology in Leipzig, Ger- master’s degrees at the University of Tel TO RELAX IT9%S M TIOG 2R4A%T BIOY N20 P2O0.LICY other countries,” hec says. many, were part of the team that made the Aviv in Israel, says she applied to do her a hybrid DNA discovery, which provides new doctoral studies in Leipzig specifically AND ATTRACT MORE SKILLED insights into the lives of ancient hominins. because she wanted to work with Pääbo, WORKERS FROM OUTSIDE THE EU. “It tells us that these groups interacted who is Swedish. She says that the institute more than we thought,” says Slon, who is international in nature, with researchers FREE HIGHER EDUCATIOearnedN her PhD at the institute and is from many countries, and gives her the €4.3BN. RECORD LEVELS OF the first author on the paper. freedom to pursue her interests as well as travel to conferences and anthropological ANCIENT DNA sites. Although Slon doesn’t speak FREE HIGHER EDUCATION A team from the Russian Academy of German, she notes that this hasn’t caused Sciences excavated the bones from a many difficulties and that the institute has Small fees of a few hundred euros per semes- cave in the Altai Mountains of Russia, and given her help with various tasks, such ter are charged to studentsb in some provinces researchers from the University of Oxford as finding an apartment. “There’s a lot of to cover administrative costs, butAF otherwiseFORDABLE C HILDCARandE University of Manchester in the United people here who help out for the research TO RELAX ITS MIGRATION POLICY higher education isc generallya free. ■ Kingdom used mass spectroscopy to but also for your personal life, even if you AND ATTRACT MORE SKILLED examine the remains for signs of human don’t speak the language.” N.S. WORKERS FROM OUTSIDE THE EU. Denise Hruby is a writer and editor in Austria.