Joe Rogan Experience #2563 - Dan Richards · Aired Oct 8, 2026
Claim summary · not a verbatim quotation
The Neanderthal and Denisovan GLI3 variant caused extra vertebrae, abnormal teeth and sometimes extra fingers when introduced into mice.
The finding
What the evidence shows
Dan Richards: The 2023 experiment found background-dependent skull and rib changes. But it reports fewer lumbar vertebrae, and no digit or limb abnormalities in mice carrying the tested archaic variant. Dental malformation is not a reported measured result. Polydactyly from other GLI3 mutations is not evidence this variant produced extra fingers; the study does not authenticate alleged Peruvian mummies.
Read the supporting source · www.frontiersin.org ↗Quick answer & review status
Quick answer
Is it true that the Neanderthal and Denisovan GLI3 variant caused extra vertebrae, abnormal teeth and sometimes extra fingers when introduced into mice?
Partly. The claim stretches what the evidence shows. Dan Richards: The 2023 experiment found background-dependent skull and rib changes. But it reports fewer lumbar vertebrae, and no digit or limb abnormalities in mice carrying the tested archaic variant. Dan Richards said it (matched by voice) on Joe Rogan Experience #2563 - Dan Richards, aired Oct 8, 2026, at 58:30. The supporting source is frontiersin.org, linked below.
The context belongs here.
No separately verified on-air correction is recorded for this check. That is not a claim that nobody corrected it.
- Attribution
- Not independently confirmed in this record
- Editorial context review
- Not recorded; generated finding
- Coverage
- One selected claim from the episode
Revisions to this check
No dated revision is recorded here. Older checks may predate this log.
Challenge this finding or add context →Keep the evidence coming.
Follow new checks in your RSS reader, or catch up with the weekly briefing on the site.
Email signup is currently unavailable.
Prefer to catch up here? Read the weekly briefing.