Nobel win for man who unlocked secrets of Neanderthal DNA

Swedish geneticist Svante Paabo won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for discoveries that underpin our understanding of how modern day humans evolved from extinct ancestors.

Paabo, director at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, won the prize for "discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution," the Award committee said.

Paabo was 'overwhelmed' and 'very happy', said Thomas Perlmann, secretary for the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, after calling the scientist with the news.

Paabo, 67, said he thought the call from Sweden was something to do his summer house there.

"So I was just gulping down the last cup of tea to go and pick up my daughter at her nanny where she has had an overnight stay," Paabo said in a audio recording posted on the Nobel website.

"And then I got this call from Sweden and I of course thought it had something to do with our little summer house in Sweden ... I thought the lawn mower had broken down or something."