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Gene MYH16: A Tasty New Jawbreaker

Posted by michael on from the chew-then-swallow dept.

kid_wonder writes "Jeremy Roenick take heart! Glass Joe take heart! Scientists discovered that humans owe their big brains to a single genetic mutation that weakened our jaw muscles about 2.4 million years ago. So I guess now we can call all those dopey muscle bound guys 'apes' with a clear conscience."

1 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. Actually, no. by Romothecus · · Score: 4, Informative

    RTFA. Virtually every scientist who read their work was of the opinion that the explanation "mutation to smaller jaw means bigger brain" is incredibly simplistic and that the real explanation is probably far more complex. The change in jaw morphology is probably only one of many contributing factors.