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🧠💥 Could lead poisoning have helped shape human evolution? A bold new hypothesis suggests that Homo sapiens may have survived while Neanderthals and Denisovans vanished—thanks to genetic defenses against environmental lead. 🧬

By analyzing fossil teeth 🦷 and testing brain organoids 🧪, researchers found that ancient lead exposure disrupted key language-related genes (like FOXP2)—but not in modern human variants.

👣 Sometimes, evolution turns adversity into advantage.

📖 Published in Science (Oct 2025): "Did lead poisoning help drive human evolution?"

🔗 doi:10.1126/science.aed1022

#Evolution #Neuroscience #Anthropology #Genetics #FOXP2 #NOVA1 #LeadPoisoning #Paleoanthropology #Science 🦴🧬