This year is the 20th anniversary of sequencing the human genome. In honor of this event, a research team led by Prof. FU Qiaomei from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences reviewed the most recent progress in the field of ancient DNA (aDNA), i.e., DNA obtained from the remains of past organisms.

The fossil of a 290-million-year-old ‘shark’ with petal-shaped teeth was found in China for the first time, according to GAI Zhikun, an associate researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The Petalodus teeth were found in the Qianshi limestone in Yangquan City, north China's Shanxi Province.Their study was published as a cover paper in Acta Geologica Sinica (English Edition).