A most fortuitous accident for humanity
There's a new paper which suggests that the SRGAP2 gene has been incompletely copied three times during the evolution of proto-humans and humans, at 3.4 million years ago, 2.4 million years ago, and 1 million years ago respectively.
So what?
Well, it looks link this might be the cause (or at least one of the causes) of human intelligence - the result of the mis-copying is that our brains can form more connections, more quickly, than those of most of the other species on the planet. In a parallel study on mice, the miscopied gene allowed "the emergence of human-specific features" in the mice brains, including spines (points of connection to other cells). In other words, it made the mouse brain cells "bushier", and the overall brain more complex, much like a human brain in relation to other animals on this planet.
Most tantalizingly, the last mis-copy (a million years ago) seems to dovetail nicely with when Homo sapiens started to shine as the up-and-coming rock stars of the animal kingdom on this planet.
So, yeah, it looks like we're all here because of an accident of sorts.
So what?
Well, it looks link this might be the cause (or at least one of the causes) of human intelligence - the result of the mis-copying is that our brains can form more connections, more quickly, than those of most of the other species on the planet. In a parallel study on mice, the miscopied gene allowed "the emergence of human-specific features" in the mice brains, including spines (points of connection to other cells). In other words, it made the mouse brain cells "bushier", and the overall brain more complex, much like a human brain in relation to other animals on this planet.
Most tantalizingly, the last mis-copy (a million years ago) seems to dovetail nicely with when Homo sapiens started to shine as the up-and-coming rock stars of the animal kingdom on this planet.
So, yeah, it looks like we're all here because of an accident of sorts.