By Katie Hunt, CNN

(CNN) — The 2010 discovery that early humans and Neanderthals once encountered one another and had babies was a scientific bombshell that electrified the field of human origins.

Now, geneticists at the University of Pennsylvania say they have a better understanding of the nature of those prehistoric hookups, suggesting the trysts were mostly between male Neanderthals and female humans.

The intriguing finding, published Thursday in the journal Science, could help explain why the Neanderthal ancestry that is present in humans today is unevenly distributed across the genome. However, it’s far from clear why prehistoric pairings between our species, Homo sapiens, and Neanderthals — who went extinct around 40,000 years ago — largely followed this pattern.

“This is a fascinating and provocative hypothesis,” said Joshua Akey, a professor at Princeton University’s Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, who wasn’t involved in the research. “I find it extraordinary that we can use genome sequences to infer aspects of social dynamics and mating patterns that occurred tens to hundreds of thousands of years ago.”

Researchers don’t know exactly how often Neanderthals and members of our species encountered one another but a study published in 2024 suggested the two groups exchanged DNA at multiple points over the past 250,000 years as they migrated around the world. Neanderthals and Homo sapiens are also known to have interbred with a third species: Denisovans.

Most humans carry a small percentage of Neanderthal DNA, a genetic legacy from those sexual interactions. In certain cases, those genes can still influence human health. Neanderthal DNA has been found to affect circadian rhythms, immune system function and the way some people feel pain.

Mysteriously, however, the human X chromosome today appears to be what geneticists call an “archaic desert,” meaning it has next to no Neanderthal DNA. (Women have two X chromosomes, while men have just one plus a Y chromosome.)

“It’s not zero on the X, but mostly gone,” said the study’s lead coauthor Alexander Platt, a senior research scientist in the University of Pennsylvania’s department of genetics. “And for the last 10 years or so, we’ve had two families of explanations about what happened.”

Perhaps, researchers have speculated, genes on the X chromosome don’t transfer well between species, or Neanderthal genetic variants on the X chromosome were disadvantageous in some way to human variants and were therefore gradually eliminated by the evolutionary process of natural selection. The latest research, however, ruled out those scenarios and suggested that a different dynamic was at play.

X Puzzles

The new study, based on information from the genomes of 73 women and three female Neanderthal samples, found that Neanderthal X chromosomes showed a pattern opposite to that of their Homo sapiens counterparts: They displayed a relative excess of human DNA far beyond

By Sophia Saifi, Saleem Mehsud, Hira Humayun, CNN

Islamabad (CNN) — Pakistan says its military forces are responding to an attack launched by the Afghan Taliban earlier on Thursday, marking the latest escalation of violence between the neighboring countries.

“Taliban regime forces are being delivered punishment in Chitral, Khyber, Mohmand, Kurram and Bajaur sectors,” Pakistan’s information ministry said, calling an earlier Afghanistan assault “unprovoked.”

“Pakistan will take all necessary measures to ensure its territorial integrity and the safety and security of its citizens,” the Pakistani ministry said.

Pakistan claimed early reports indicate “heavy casualties” on the Afghan side, and that multiple Afghan military posts and equipment have been destroyed. Afghanistan did not immediately respond to the claims.

Earlier on Thursday, Afghanistan’s military launched an offensive against Pakistani positions, calling it a retaliation for Pakistan’s airstrikes on militant camps across the border in Afghanistan on Sunday that left at least 18 people dead.

Hamdullah Fitrat, the Taliban government’s deputy spokesman, claimed that Afghan forces had killed 40 Pakistani soldiers in the northeastern Kunar province and captured 15 Pakistani military border posts, adding that Kabul’s troops were deployed along the “Durand Line,” the 1,600-mile disputed border between the two countries. Pakistan’s military did not immediately respond, and CNN is unable to independently verify the claims.

Pakistan’s strikes on Sunday targeted camps belonging to the Pakistani Taliban – also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) – and its affiliates, as well as a group associated with the Islamic State, which Islamabad blames for a series of attacks in Pakistan, the information ministry said.

Pakistan has seen weeks of deadly attacks and says it has “conclusive evidence” that they were carried out by militants at the “behest of their Afghanistan based leadership and handlers.”

A fragile ceasefire between the two countries has been in place since October, following the deadliest wave of cross-border violence in years.

In a November interview with CNN, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said his country wanted to “take out” the TTP’s leadership in Afghanistan, stating that it would employ “whatever means are available to us.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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By Alaa Elassar, CNN

(CNN) — A student at Columbia University in New York was detained Thursday morning after federal immigration agents allegedly used deception to gain entry into a campus residential building, according to university officials.

At approximately 6:30 a.m., agents from the Department of Homeland Security entered a Columbia residential building in New York City and took a student into custody, Columbia University’s Acting President Claire Shipman said in a letter. The student’s identity has not been released.

University officials say agents misrepresented their purpose in order to access the building.

“Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a ‘missing person,’” Shipman wrote. “We are working to gather more details.”

Columbia said it is working to contact the student’s family and ensure the student has access to legal support.

The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to CNN’s request for comment. DHS spokesperson Lauren Bis told The New York Times that the agency is preparing a statement about the operation and expects to release it soon.

In her letter, Shipman emphasized law enforcement officers must present a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the university, including residence halls, classrooms and buildings requiring Columbia University ID card access. An administrative warrant, she wrote, is not sufficient.

“If law enforcement agents seek entry to non-public areas of the University, ask the agents to wait to enter any non-public areas until contacting Public Safety. Public Safety will contact the Office of the General Counsel to coordinate the University’s response,” Shipman wrote.

“Do not allow them to enter or accept service of a warrant or subpoena.”

The incident comes as New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has proposed legislation that would bar Immigration and Customs Enforcement from entering sensitive locations such as schools and dormitories.

“Let’s be clear about what happened: ICE agents didn’t have the proper warrant, so they lied to gain access to a student’s private residence,” Hochul said in a statement on X.

Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, the dean of the New York congressional delegation, and Assemblymember Micah Lasher said in a statement they were “disgusted and outraged” that ICE agents allegedly entered a Columbia University dorm under false pretenses and without a judicial warrant to detain a student, calling the action dangerous, fear-inducing and vowing to work to bring the student home.

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CNN’s Sara Smart contributed to this report.

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By Betsy Klein, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge on Thursday rejected the nation’s top historic preservation group’s attempt to block to President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, but also suggested a possible roadmap for the group to revive the challenge.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation sued the Trump administration in December over the sprawling ballroom project and asked for a preliminary injunction, claiming the White House has been carrying out the construction unlawfully because Trump hadn’t gotten approval from Congress or submitted his plans to the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts for review, which would give the public a chance to weigh in.

The president has been personally involved in ballroom details, from floor plans to marble selection. The sprawling ballroom project has an estimated size of approximately 89,000 square feet, according to lead architect Shalom Baranes. By contrast, the primary White House structure, the Executive Mansion, is just 55,000 square feet.

Trump has maintained that the project isn’t subject to any oversight and that he should be able to continue with it without any serious scrutiny.

Thursday’s ruling from senior US District Judge Richard Leon focuses on the Trust’s choice to use the Administrative Procedure Act to challenge the project. The judge concluded the law was an an inappropriate tool for the Trust, in part because the White House office for the president’s executive office and the office over his residence – which are managing the ballroom’s construction – aren’t agencies that a court could curtail under the law.

“Unfortunately for Plaintiff, its challenge fails because the White House office in question is not an ‘agency’ under the APA and because Plaintiff did not bring the ultra vires claim necessary to challenge the President’s statutory authority to complete his construction project with private funds and without congressional approval!” Leon wrote.

The Trust, Leon said, raised “novel and weight issues” in the case and could potentially restructure the lawsuit to test the president’s authority in a different legal approach.

In a Truth Social post, Trump called the ruling “Great news for America, and our wonderful White House!”

He added: “The Ballroom construction, which is anticipated to also handle future Inaugurations and large State Visits, is ahead of schedule, and under budget. It will stand long into the future as a symbol to the Greatness of America!”

The Commission of Fine Arts approved the project after the lawsuit was filed.

CNN has reached out to the Trust for comment.

The lawsuit, filed last year after the East Wing had been completely demolished, has forced the administration to make public details about the project that had otherwise been kept under wraps, including plans for a reimagined two-story East Colonnade revealed in December filings; information about the preservation of existing artifacts from the now-destroyed East Wing; and an expected timeline for construction.

CNN’s Austin Culpepper, Devan Cole, Tierney Sneed, Katelyn Polantz and Kit Maher contributed.

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