hotmale
December 29th, 2004, 19:37 PM
A new scientific study claims that genes controlling the size and complexity of the brain have evolved more rapidly in humans than they have in any other species - including apes.
Bruce Lahn, a geneticist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Chicago and one of the principal authors of the study, argues that 'people in many fields...have long debated whether the evolution of the human brain was a special event'. According to Lahn, 'our study settles this question by showing that it was'.
These claims form part of a well-established trend, in which diverse aspects of human intelligence and behaviour are attributed to biological causes. The burgeoning field of genetics in particular has been the occasion for explaining away many a human characteristic, in terms of the chemical composition of our DNA. This in turn has fuelled the interminable nature-nurture debate, and competing arguments that either our biology or our upbringing ultimately account for the way in which we think.
The latest study, published in the journal Cell, investigates the evolutionary development of 214 genes that control the size and complexity of the brain. Researchers compared the development of these genes in four different species: humans, macaque monkeys, rats and mice. Contrary to earlier assertions derived from genetic studies, the researchers in this instance argue that there is a genetic basis for - rather than against - humans being exceptional: 'The remarkable phenotypic evolution of the human nervous system has a salient molecular correlate, ie, accelerated evolution of the underlying genes.'
http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA855.htm
Bruce Lahn, a geneticist at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Chicago and one of the principal authors of the study, argues that 'people in many fields...have long debated whether the evolution of the human brain was a special event'. According to Lahn, 'our study settles this question by showing that it was'.
These claims form part of a well-established trend, in which diverse aspects of human intelligence and behaviour are attributed to biological causes. The burgeoning field of genetics in particular has been the occasion for explaining away many a human characteristic, in terms of the chemical composition of our DNA. This in turn has fuelled the interminable nature-nurture debate, and competing arguments that either our biology or our upbringing ultimately account for the way in which we think.
The latest study, published in the journal Cell, investigates the evolutionary development of 214 genes that control the size and complexity of the brain. Researchers compared the development of these genes in four different species: humans, macaque monkeys, rats and mice. Contrary to earlier assertions derived from genetic studies, the researchers in this instance argue that there is a genetic basis for - rather than against - humans being exceptional: 'The remarkable phenotypic evolution of the human nervous system has a salient molecular correlate, ie, accelerated evolution of the underlying genes.'
http://www.spiked-online.com/Articles/0000000CA855.htm