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DAS! with anthropologist Johannes Krause

NDR, DAS!, January 23, 2024: Dark skin, bald head and ancestors from what is now Anatolia: these findings about the glacier mummy Ötzi caused a sensation in 2023. Prof. Johannes Krause, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and head of the research team had decoded Ötzi's genetic material. The previously assumed image of the light-skinned Stone Age man with long, thick blond hair was thus gone. Krause reports on how he let bones speak and in this way also deciphered the Neanderthal's genes. Video in German.

How important is the cold?

detektor.fm, December 21, 2023: The cold plays an important role in many processes - on this planet as well as in space. We take a look at the Earth's ice sheets, the Ice Age and the formation of stars. Link to podcast episode in German.

A new picture of Ötzi

detektor.fm, 17 August 2023: The glacier mummy Ötzi has fascinated scientists for more than 30 years. Now researchers have gained new insights from his genes. Where did Ötzi really come from and how is our image of him changing? Link to podcast episode in German.

Human Evolution, Neanderthals, and Denisovans

Offspring Magazine - The Podcast (Max Planck PhDNet), August 05, 2023: Today, Bea talks to Prof. Dr. Johannes Krause, a director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. His research focuses on the analysis of ancient DNA to investigate topics such as pathogens from historic and prehistoric epidemics, human genetic history, and human evolution. Link to podcast episode.

Our hand - stroke of genius of evolution

3sat Wissen, May 25, 2023: With 27 bones each, hands are an anatomical marvel. We can write and create things with them, thanks to fine motor skills our hands are a perfect multifunctional tool. Video in German.

My body. My words.

ARD Wissen, May 22, 2023: Where is our language heading? For at least 40,000 years, we humans have been able to do something absolutely unique: produce and understand language and thus also capture abstract and symbolic contexts. How do we do that? Video in German.

Will there be a new "human species"?

ARTE, 42 - The answer to almost everything, February 12, 2023: No other species on this planet is as advanced as we are. But have we already reached the end of the line? Have we managed, thanks to our culture, medicine and technology, to make ourselves more or less completely independent of nature? Or does evolution continue for us humans as well? In other words, could a new human species emerge from us and what would it look like? Video in German.

"Why is there a little Neanderthal in all of us?"

Kinderuni Vogtland, November 05, 2022: Lecture for children by Professor Dr. Johannes Krause from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. "If you were to write down the DNA blueprint, it would fill 300 Harry Potter books with a total of 150,000 pages." Video in German.

Johannes Krause: The journey of our genes

Deutsches Museum, November 02, 2022: The field of archaeogenetics deals with the extraction and analysis of genetic material from archaeological finds such as bones and teeth. For example, studies have shown that the settlement history of Europe since the Ice Age has been marked by numerous migratory movements - both into and out of Europe. In addition, with the help of archaeogenetics, it is now possible to genetically trace certain disease patterns, characteristics such as skin, hair and eye color, as well as other adaptations over several thousand years. Video in German.

How the Romans brought the house rat to Europe - and the Plague

DLF, May 04, 2022: With the expansion of the Roman Empire, the domestic rat also spread in Europe, with its collapse it died out again. This is what researchers led by anthropologist Johannes Krause conclude from the analysis of ancient DNA from rats. The most important finding: this could also be the explanation for the fact that the Plague disappeared in Europe for several hundred years. It is originally a rat disease. Audio in German.

Johannes Krause: "I think we will get to personalised medicine"

Cicero Science Podcast, April 22, 2022: Johannes Krause is a Director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. One of his major scientific achievements is the reconstruction of the mitochondrial DNA of the so-called Denisovans, a previously unknown group of extinct humans. In this podcast Krause talks with ancient historian Michael Sommer and evolutionary biologist Axel Meyer about the current state of knowledge in genetics and archaeogenetics. Audio in German.

DAS! with anthropologist Johannes Krause

NDR, DAS!, April 19, 2022: Arrogance, self-conceit and presumption - all this is contained in the Greek word "hybris". For anthropologist Prof. Johannes Krause, the term describes humanity's fateful attitude of subjugating planet Earth to its own needs. The consequences: Species die, oceans acidify, temperatures rise, soils desertify. What we can learn from the past for our survival is described [...] in his current book "Hybris". Video in German.

How much prehistoric human DNA is still in us?

SRF | Johannes Krause – How much prehistoric human DNA is still in us?, April 09, 2022: Johannes Krause is rewriting the history of humankind. As an archaeogeneticist, he is investigating the genetic makeup of our ancestors and has even discovered a new type of human. In this interview he talks with Yves Bossart about the questions where humans really originated from and how much prehistoric human DNA is still in us.

From whom do we descend?

detektor.fm, podcast, April 06, 2022: Are we descended from Neanderthals? According to our genes - probably not. Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology analyses ancient DNA to find out where modern humans come from and also how our ancestors lived thousands of years ago. Audio in German.

Johannes Krause: Biological ancestry research | "Aha" moment in Archaeogenetics

BIOTOPIA LAB, March 31, 2022: How far back does our family tree go? Archaeogeneticist Johannes Krause from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, explains how biochemical methods can be used to find out spectacular things about our past: Are we all somehow related to each other? What other species of humans existed on Earth in the past, and do we still carry a part of them within us? Johannes Krause reveals how a tiny bone led to his "aha" moment.

Neanderthal DNA: "A double-edged sword"

detektor.fm, podcast, March 10, 2022: Many people share a small percentage of their DNA with Neanderthals. But how does Neanderthal DNA actually influence our immune system in the fight against Covid-19? This is explained by researcher Hugo Zeberg of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig and the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. Audio in German.

Migration stories from the Stone Age

DLF Kultur, December 17, 2021: As an archaeogeneticist, Johannes Krause decodes the DNA of bones that are sometimes hundreds of thousands of years old. This is how we learn who our ancestors were. Audio in German.

Archaeogenetics - A look into the genes

3Sat NANO, September 28, 2021: A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig has reconstructed the oldest human genome studied to date. It comes from a woman who lived more than 45,000 years ago and died in what is now the Czech Republic. Using her DNA, the scientists were able to gain new insights into the life of the first humans in Europe, and make concrete statements about their relationship to us Europeans today. Video in German.

Neanderthal Ancestry Identifies Oldest Modern Human Genome

The fossil skull of a woman in Czechia has provided the oldest modern human genome yet reconstructed, representing a population that formed before the ancestors of present-day Europeans and Asians split apart. In an article published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, an international team of researchers sequence the genome of an almost complete skull first discovered in Zlatý Kůň, Czechia in 1950. The segments of Neanderthal DNA in its genome were longer than those of the Ust’-Ishim individual from Siberia, the previous oldest modern human sequenced, suggesting modern humans lived in the heart of Europe more than 45,000 years ago. Link to the video.

Zoonoses - pathogens originating from animals

Corona, HIV, BSE, Ebola, avian flu. In recent decades, we have been repeatedly alarmed by infectious diseases that have been transmitted from animals to humans. But how do such zoonoses arise, how can we prevent them from spreading and what do zoonoses have to do with the worldwide extinction of species?