Svante Pääbo provides a really clear, concise summary of how genome-level studies inform our understanding of human evolution

TED Talks “Svante Pääbo: DNA clues to our inner neanderthal”

The genetic comparisons between Africans and Euroasians discussed by Pääbo are far more fascinating to me than the story of Neanderthal and Denisovan admixture with modern humans. That there are no endemic polymorphisms (among almost 39 million!) is amazing — it shows that our diversity actually stems from the same African source. The regional similarities are therefore convergent traits produced by multiple genes, which have been recombined in countless ways to create somewhat consistent local characteristics. Throughout our history we have experienced strong gene flow that has prevented any really significant regional differences in human populations from emerging.