After a mad scramble researchers have completed a rough draft of a female Neandertal genome which will offer a new view of Homo sapiens as well as our extinct cousins.

The rough draft of the Neandertal nuclear genome may usher in a brave new world of research on these extinct humans, but after 150 years of study, we already know a few things about them.

At the Joint Mathematics Meetings, speakers discussed ideas ranging from pie-in-the-sky theoretical to crust-on-the-ground practical for dealing with the perennially fraught issue of deciding which voters get to reelect which members of the various legislative bodies.