Since the 1858 discovery of the prehistoric existence of Neanderthals, many biological studies have been conducted in an attempt to answer one big question: why did Neanderthals go extinct, and why did modern humans prevail? In recent decades, advancements in technology have allowed scientists to take a more specialized approach to analyzing the naturally-preserved ancient remains. Such new methods involve the extraction of the genetic material and using intricate processes to purify and sequence it in readable format for analysis and comparison to other organisms, primarily contemporary humans. As a result of grand-scale initiatives such as the Human Genome Project, completed in 2003, and the Neanderthal Genome project, completed in 2010, the study of Neanderthals and their connections to humans expanded significantly. Neanderthals were confirmed to be the most recent, extinct common ancestors of contemporary humans, and more detailed studies revealed that specific genes survived Neanderthal extinction and are still being expressed in humans today. In this presentation, in answer to the big question of why modern humans prevailed over their ancient relatives, I argue that Neanderthals did not truly go extinct; pieces of them are still present in our DNA today, influencing our internal genetic makeup and external gene expression.