A snarky commenter mentioned there is "new research" that Neanderthals did not go extinct, but were instead absorbed into the modern human population. No such thing. They indeed went extinct in every sense of the word. This is almost like saying that dinosaurs did not go extinct because we have reptiles and birds. Yes, there is evidence of interbreeding with modern humans, but the reality is that the Neanderthals do not exist anymore, while modern humans (with 1-5% Neanderthal DNA, depending on the study) do.

And another snarky commenter chastised me for asking for peer review in Medium articles. (Her interpretation, not mine.) I'm not asking for peer review. I'm asking for a simple fact check before hitting the publish button. If I'm going to share this platform with them as a writer of scientific stuff, then it is my responsibility to correct their mistakes.

I'm not interested in debates based on paternalistic, snarky comments.