Washington Post today carried this article (free reg, blah blah lazy bastards blah blah) detailing an innovative technique that's making a big splash in human origins research. By doing genetic studies on parasites exclusive to humans, scientists are finding they are able to pick out what seem to be startling conclusions about our evolution, ones that are not, and sometimes cannot be, found in the fossil record.

In particular, the article discusses how one team did a study on the genetics of the human head louse. While the conclusions are by no means final, their study discovered indications that modern humans were in actual contact with H. erectus, a far older, more archaic form of human, as they (the moderns) migrated into Asia. Until now, erectus was thought to have died out before early moderns ever got near them. If this study holds up, it would seem that conclusion is mistaken.