Svante Pääbo on the Neanderthal Genome Project.

“I want to know what changed in fully modern humans, compared with Neanderthals, that made a difference. What made it possible for us to build up these enormous societies, and spread around the globe.”

This article in the New Yorker by (usually) environmental writer, Elizabeth Kolbert, does a wonderful job of discussing the implications of the Neanderthal Genome project (although it’s unfortunately behind a paywall).

In other words, the basic idea is that two key differences that put Homo sapiens apart from the other primates (and really the rest of biodiversity) is the fact that we excel at acts of teamwork (simple example: how often do other creatures team-up to lift something heavy); and we’re also much more inclined to explore the unknown (evident in geographical migration, but I guess also from a philosophical epistemology view as well).

Bring into this narrative is the fact that Neanderthals are our closest biological relative where: (1) DNA samples are obtainable, and (2) the two aforemention traits don’t seem to apply. Therefore, sequencing the Neanderthal genome and comparing it to ours, may provide some insight into the genetic basis of such things.