Papua New Guineans, genetically isolated for 50,000 years, carry Denisovan genes that help their immune system, study suggests

Nine members of a family are pictured sitting on a wooden platform with clothes hanging on a washing line above. Their smiling faces can be seen looking at the camera. Woodland can be seen in the background of the image on the right-hand side. The group appear to be sat in front of a building. .

Papua New Guineans, who have been genetically isolated for millennia, carry unique genes that helped them fight off infection — and some of those genes come from our extinct human cousins, the Denisovans.

The research also found that highlanders and lowlanders evolved different mutations to help them adapt to their wildly different environments.