Researchers have discovered a series of creativity-linked genes that may have given Homo sapiens a significant edge over Neanderthals, enabling them to avoid extinction. The findings suggest that these genes played “a fundamental role in the evolution of creativity, self-awareness and cooperative behaviour,” the multinational research team wrote Wednesday in the Nature journal Molecular Psychiatry. Such genes were like “a secret weapon” that gave modern humans “a significant advantage over now-extinct hominids by fostering greater resilience to ageing, injury, and disease, they wrote. Led by Granada University in Spain, the experts identified 267 genes unique to humans, and through genetic markers, genetic expression data and AI-related MRI techniques, found they were related to creativity.