Cracking The Neanderthal Code

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology have announced a multi-million dollar project to decipher the genetic code of Neanderthals:

Anthropologists have long argued over Neanderthals' unexplained disappearance. Many believe Neanderthals were unable to compete with modern humans migrating from Africa. But it remains an open question whether Neanderthals faded away quietly, or were wiped out over thousands of years of fierce territorial battles with modern man. Researchers have recovered stone axes and other tools from Neanderthal sites, and it's believed that they used fire and buried their dead, but relatively little is known about how they lived. Modern humans who entered their territories left behind cave paintings and other evidence of more sophisticated culture, and more advanced tools. DNA differences between humans and Neanderthals could explain key human traits.

And of course they want to answer the burning question: did cavemen date Neanderthal women?