An article published in the journal “Nature” reports the recognition of a new species of primitive humans that was named Homo luzonensis. A team of researchers studied a number of fossils discovered between 2007 and 2015 in Callao Cave, on the island of Luzon, Philippines, concluding that these are the remains of individuals belonging to a species of hominins different from those hitherto known who lived on the island between 50,000 and 67,000 years ago.

An article published in the journal “Molecular Biology and Evolution” describes a research that from a protein in human saliva showed that there were interbreedings between Homo sapiens and another unknown hominin species. A team of scientists conducted a study on the gene called MUC7, which encodes a mucin, a protein that determines some of the characteristics of human saliva and tracing its history found traces of these ancient interbreedings between hominins in Sub-Saharan Africa.