WE ARE ALL DESIGNIST NOW:

Researchers from Stanford University and Meiji University in Tokyo used computer modelling to see how cultural development - such as art and tool-making - might help or hinder a species.

The modelling, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found a small initial population of modern humans, with their cultural arsenal, could completely displace a larger Neanderthal population.

And when they introduced a positive feedback loop to the model - where more cultural development led to more competitive advantage which, in turn, led to more cultural development - the number of modern humans needed to push out a big group of Neanderthals dropped.

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