Humans' Big Brains Linked To a Small Stretch of DNA

A new study (abstract) described in the L.A. Times suggests that "just 10 differences on one particular strand of human DNA lying near a brain-development gene could have been instrumental in the explosive growth in the human neocortex." The DNA region, containing just 1,200 base pairs, is not a gene. But it lies near one that is known to affect early development of the human neocortex, according to the study, published online Thursday in Current Biology. Researchers showed that the region, known as HARE5, acts as an enhancer of the gene FZD8. Embryos of mice altered with human HARE5 developed significantly larger brains and more neurons compared with embryos carrying the chimp version, according to the study.

Comments

Re:mice, HGTTG

[Evtim]

We also learned:

- That we should never trust marketing. GPP feature, anyone? Share and enjoy? [+5 Funny]
- That if life is to survive in a Universe this size the one thing it cannot afford to have is a sense of proportion [+5 Insightful]
- That galactic banks are a figment of our imagination [+5 Informative]
- That with a degree in math and another in astrophysics it is either this or the unemployment agency on Monday morning [+5 Informative]
- That cricket is evil [+5 Funny]
- That isolationism is bad. "It has to go" --> Krikkiters about the Universe, after discovering they are not alone [+5 Insightful]
- That it is an important and popular fact that things are not always what they seem [+5 Informative]
- That the one thing a bunch of respectable physicists cannot stand is a smart ass [+5 Funny]
- That the best way to break ice at parties is the finite probability generator [+5 Informative]
- That personally offending everyone in the Galaxy is a huge task, even for an immortal [+5 Informative]
- That prophets always come back, even if it is just a few seconds before the end of the Universe [+5 Funny]
- The the wheel is not commercially viable, mostly because of its color [+5 Funny]
- That the most effective devaluation financial program is to cut down the forest [+5 Insightful]
- That the best way to avoid tax is the afterlife [+5 Informative]
- That cauliflower has special opinion about food that does not want to be eaten [+5 Informative]
- That the function of a president is not to yield power, but to divert the attention from those that do [+5000 Informative]

This just from the top of my head. DNA found novel, fascinating and very funny WAY to say the truth. I mean, just for an illustration, the whole story of the total perspective vortex, its creation, effects, usage and the fate of ZB when he is subjected to it --> yes, this is the one and only way, IMO, to deal with the size of the Universe. Both humble and proud. With and without sense of proportion. There is a very healthy portion of real wisdom in those books, just like every good book I suspect.....

Re:Look around you

[TheRaven64]

The current size of the human head is limited by the pelvic size of women (humans already have a fairly high rate of mortality among newborns and mothers for unaided births compared to other species as a result). A more interesting approach would be to delay the age at which the head stops growing, though that would also need extra skeletal scaffolding to carry the larger head around, improvements to the cardiopulmonary system to keep it supplied with blood, and so on. Basically, the human brain is about as big as you can get it with small incremental changes to a hominid - you're going to need more than a few tweaks to get it a lot bigger.

Oh, and this isn't Twitter. You don't need to say '@GloomE' - we can tell from the fact that you replied to his post that you replied to his post.