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'Predecessor' Neurons to Human Brain Discovered

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the going-grey-early dept.

Yale researchers claim to have found the very first neurons in what eventually becomes the human brain. Developed before most anything else, these neurons are in place just 31 days after fertilization. From the article: "We hypothesize that these predecessor neurons may be a transient population involved in determining the number of functional radial units including the human specific regions of the cerebral cortex mediating higher cognitive functions," Rakic said. "As a next step it is essential to determine their neural stem cell lineage, pattern of gene expression, developmental role and eventual fate."

3 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Expect abortion opponents to jump on this. by eln · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "pro life" and "pro choice" people are talking past each other anyway. Pro lifers believe everything with the potential for becoming life (zygote onwards in some cases) should be protected, while pro choicers believe things that only things which would be viable life forms outside of the womb should be protected.

    This discovery means nothing in this debate, because the basic concept of what constitutes life (potential life versus viable life) is not affected. Sure, some pro life groups may choose to add this to their stable of propaganda, but it probably isn't going to change the debate in any meaningful way.

  2. Because I'm a Roman Catholic... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great... ...If a sperm is wasted, God gets quite irate....

    If the souls of aborted babies go to heaven, then shoudn't the christians ENCOURAGE abortion as much as possible? Especially in athiests? I mean, saving the child's soul is the most important thing, right? What kind of loving parent would allow the child's soul to come in danger of eternal torment, when salvation is just an abortion away? :)

    1. Re:Because I'm a Roman Catholic... by lav-chan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The Catholic Church says, quite literally, "We don't know what happens to unbaptised babies who die... we just assume God does the right thing".

      It'd be cool if they applied that line of thought to... anybody else, really.

      It's funny how the Church seems to know exactly what God is thinking when it comes to homosexuals and transgendered people and pre-marital sex and all that jazz, but when it turns the subject of babies they're suddenly too humble to speculate.