Professor Svante Paabo, Swedish pioneer of recovering DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) genetic material from ancient fossils. Paabo has conducted research at the Universities of Munich, Germany, and Berkeley, USA. In 1984 Paabo's team recovered DNA from the preserved hide of a quagga, a zebra-like mammal that had been extinct for over 140 years. He has also extracted DNA from insects trapped in amber many millions of years ago. Paabo has analysed DNA from fossils of Neanderthal humans and showed that they were unrelated to modern humans.