Nasty, brutish and short. Until about the last decade or so, that's how many of us were accustomed to thinking about Neanderthal life. But a lot has changed since then, not least of which is the emergence of smoking-gun DNA evidence that Neanderthals are, in fact, family. Now a new study runs counter to earlier thinking by suggesting that Neanderthals reached maturity at about the same rate as modern humans. "Neandertals have long been seen as the James Deans of human evolution—they grew up fast, died young, and became legends," Ann Gibbons writes in Science. "But now, a rare skeleton of a Neandertal child suggests that our closest cousins didn't all lead such fast lives—and that our own long childhoods aren't unique. The find may reveal how Neandertals, like humans, had enough energy to grow bigger brains." read more http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...suggests-neanderthals-enjoyed-long-childhoods
