National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Stone Age Adults Couldn't Stomach Milk, Gene Study Shows


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A DNA analysis of Stone Age European fossils (seen here during a decontamination process) found no trace of the gene for lactase, the enzyme needed to digest milk sugar.

The find may solve a longstanding puzzle by suggesting that milk tolerance spread only after the development of dairy farming—not the other way around.

Photograph courtesy Joachim Burger