Despite considerable health gains, lagging workforce participation among the diabetes population has not improved since the late 1990s, suggesting that medical progress alone may not be enough to boost economic prospects.

An international genomics study led by scientists from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), has revealed that early Asians undertook humanity’s longest known prehistoric migration. These early humans, who roamed the earth over 100,000 years ago, are believed to have travelled more than 20,000 kilometres on foot from North Asia to the southernmost tip of South America. Published in the prestigious journal Science, this is the first time that scientists have mapped the unexpectedly vast genetic diversity of Asians, who make up more than half of the world’s population. 

These findings overturn long-held assumptions of European genetic dominance and show that native South Americans are of Asian descent. The study also sheds light on how such a vast migration and differing environments have shaped human evolution, including how populations have adapted to diseases and how their immune systems have evolved.