CHICAGO--A rough draft of the Neandertal genome, announced today in a joint press conference in Leipzig, Germany and the 2009 AAAS Annual Meeting, confirms that modern humans and Neandertals shared a speech-related gene, and may soon reveal more about our kinship with our closest evolutionary cousins.

Evolutionary geneticist Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and colleagues said their first draft contains nearly 63% of the Neandertal genome. Looking at individual genes, the team hopes to "home in on the differences that might have made a difference to our ancestors" as Neandertals and modern humans diverged genetically about 800,000 years ago, said Pääbo.

Want more? Read the Associated Press' Patrick McGroarty on how the draft was constructed. James Morgan of BBC News describes what the research means for the potential paleo-romance between Neandertals and modern humans. And find out why one researcher interviewed by Ewen Callaway at New Scientist is comparing the historic announcement to the launch of the Hubble Telescope.

You also can watch a video of the press conference. Pääbo will reveal more of the genome on Sunday 15 February at a AAAS plenary address in Chicago.

UPDATE: National Public Radio and Deutsche Welle have picked up the story, too.