Swiss newspaper Die Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) has published an interview with NOMIS Distinguished Scientist Svante Pääbo about his work in the field of paleogenetics, and more specifically, about the relevance of Neandertal genes in humans today. Although Europeans carry at most 2 percent Neandertal-derived gene variants, certain diseases such as type 2 diabetes — which today is a global epidemic — have been traced back to Neandertal DNA.

The interview was originally published in German under the title, “Was der Neandertaler mit heutigen Krankheiten zu tun hat.”