It’s strange that I feel like we live in a time where a small but loud group of people might feel personally offended by this: a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests Neanderthals were probably just as intelligent as modern humans. Neanderthals have long been one of our favorite go-to punchlines. They are our slower, dumber cousins. When Homo sapiens showed up, we immediately started outpacing them with our superior brains and better ideas. And how could we not? Were just so much smarter than them, right? Videos by VICE Apparently, we’re not. Scientists Say Neanderthals Weren’t Dumb After All The problem is that we’ve been trying to measure intelligence using fossilized skulls, basically guessing brain performance from the shape of their skulls: a kind of archaeological version of phrenology.…