50,000-year-old Neanderthal bones harbor oldest-known human viruses

Microscope image shows three circular blobs that are positioned in a triangle orientation. They are multicolored with lots of dots in the center. The background is bright yellow.

Neanderthals who lived 50,000 years ago were infected with three viruses that still affect modern humans today, researchers have discovered. 

These traces of ancient viruses are the oldest remnants of human viruses ever discovered, New Scientist reported. They are around 20,000 years older than the previous record-holder for the most ancient human virus ever found: a common-cold virus uncovered inside a pair of 31,000-year-old baby teeth in Siberia.