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Does the Yeti exist? Is it a man? Is it an animal? Is it all just a myth? British geneticist Bryan Sykes made it his mission to identify the mythical Yeti by sampling 70 supposed Yeti relics. 27 of them yielded actual genetic information.

And now, the quest for the Yeti may just have ended. Sykes declared his discovery of the true identity of the mysterious ape like creature: a rare hybrid species of bear - a mix between polar bears and grizzly bears. The mix is a rare occurrence and does lend the bears unique physical traits.

But some of the samples he examined were rarer, with two having genetic markers linked to a very different breed of bear: an ancient polar bear thought to have lived between 120,000 and 40,000 years ago — in Norway. Sykes himself isn't entirely sure what to make of this ancient strand of DNA:
"I don't think it means there are ancient polar bears wandering around the Himalayas. But... it could mean there is a sub-species of brown bear in the High Himalayas descended from the bear that was the ancestor of the polar bear. Or it could mean there has been more recent hybridization between the brown bear and the descendant of the ancient polar bear."
The results kind of lean towards the idea that there isn't a real Yeti around. It's just another rare, and / or ancient animal. At least, that's what Sykes think. Yeti conspiracy theorists have yet to chime in.

BBC Radio, via Phys.org