The Human Mutation

eldavojohn writes "Scientists in China have announced finding the gene that makes us human. The article explains that prior work has shown that humans, as compared with the great apes from which we diverged over 5 million years ago, have a longer form of a protein (type II neuropsin) located in the pre-frontal cortex of the brain. From the article: 'Gene sequencing revealed a mutation specific to humans that triggers a change in the splicing pattern of the neuropsin gene, creating a new splicing site and a longer protein. Introducing this mutation into chimpanzee DNA resulted in the creation of type II neuropsin. "Hence, the human-specific mutation is not only necessary but also sufficient in creating the novel splice form," the authors state.' The team is urging further analysis of the extra 45 amino acids in type II neuropsin since they believe that chain may cause protein structural and functional changes. The research didn't link anything with this protein, simply identifying it as a very distinct difference between us and our closest cousins."

Comments

Nah, they'll use jellyfish and banana genes...

[Anonymous Coward]

To make us yellow and spineless like a Democrat.

To bad Monty Python has "Run away! Run away!" copyrighted, else the Dems could have a new party motto to go with their white flag.

Re:Obligatory Planet of the Apes

[mapkinase]

Responsible for caring of individuals - yes. Preventing subspecies from extinction - no. And that part has nothing to do with being human or not. We care about the individual needs but we should not care if the individual produces kids or not. In some cases, the individual should not produce any kids.

Replying to your last statement: this has everything to do with religion. You see, all the capabilities for amazing technological prowess humanity have demonstrated fits in line with whatever animals do to survive individually or as species. Essentially all of it is for sustainability of individual human life and human life form in general. In that aspect it is just an ordinary animal trait as unique as elephant's trunk, mimicry of chameleon or ability to copy sounds as in parrots.

So what makes us really human? Not science, not scientific knowledge, not technology. What makes us really human is the recognition of the unknown, belief in something that we cannot sense with every single sense of the five including technological extensions of it (radiotelescopes for eyesight, seismographs and amplifiers for hearing, chromatography for sense of odor, etc.), something that we will never be able to prove or disprove.

It is the recognition of God, the concept of God. No matter if you accept it or deny it, or say "I do not know". If you capable to answer the question "Is there God?" in any way: positive, negative or agnostic way, once you have been presented with it, then you are a human.