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Biotech Medicine

Xeroxed Gene May Have Paved the Way For Large Human Brain 93

Posted by samzenpus from the look-at-the-big-brain-on-test-subject-35 dept.
sciencehabit writes Last week, researchers expanded the size of the mouse brain by giving rodents a piece of human DNA. Now another team has topped that feat, pinpointing a human gene that not only grows the mouse brain but also gives it the distinctive folds found in primate brains. The work suggests that scientists are finally beginning to unravel some of the evolutionary steps that boosted the cognitive powers of our species. "This study represents a major milestone in our understanding of the developmental emergence of human uniqueness," says Victor Borrell Franco, a neurobiologist at the Institute of Neurosciences in Alicante, Spain, who was not involved with the work.
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Xeroxed Gene May Have Paved the Way For Large Human Brain More

Xeroxed Gene May Have Paved the Way For Large Human Brain

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  • And please put flowers (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    On Algernons grave

    -Charlie

  • Pinky and the Brain (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ... will finally take over the world.

    • The limiting factor to human brain development has been the birth process

      If we apply this technique to animals that have larger birth canals, then we can create beings that have brains that are much larger than a humans

      All hail our future bovine overlords!

      You don't think that they will hold a grudge over the past few millennia do you?

      • I thought the whole birth canal thing was the cause of humans being one of the only animals to give birth to a baby that is completely helpless for several years.

        Head gets too big for birth canal, must exit before gestation is complete.

        Brains continue to grow after birth. Newborns are 350 - 400g. Adults are 1300 to 1400g

        • Interesting, I did some googling and found a competing theory that it is the restrictions of the mother's metabolism that demands that the baby be born at nine months. As compared to a chimpanzees development at birth (brain 1/2 the size at adulthood) the birth canal would only need to be 3 centimeters wider, a size that many women could accommodate

          link to study:
          http://blogs.scientificamerica... [scientificamerican.com]

          Taking that out of consideration, I still have to wonder at the novelty of increasing brain size and complexity in

          • You need an animal with an upright neck. Humans have a huge muscle connected to the back of our skull. When we're standing, our neck is straight, with the weight supported by bones. Big brains are heavy, along with the extra bone in the skull to accommodate it.

          • Re:Pinky and the Brain (Score:4, Insightful)

            by ceoyoyo ( 59147 ) on Friday February 27, 2015 @10:19AM (#49146477)

            The size of the brain is much less important than the brain to body mass ratio. Several animals have larger brains than humans (elephants being one), but they all have large bodies as well: http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/b... [brynmawr.edu]

            • The size of the brain is much less important than the brain to body mass ratio. Several animals have larger brains than humans (elephants being one), but they all have large bodies as well:

              No, not really. What sets a human and elephant apart is not how smart an individual human is compared to an individual elephant, but the ability to communicate. Human language is Turing complete, art is basically communication for the sake of communication, and our perhaps most popular form of entertainment is making up

      • You don't think that they will hold a grudge over the past few millennia do you?

        Not unless your geneticist is stupid enough to give them hands along with the bigger brain.

    • I guess everybody thought of Pinky & the Brain first..

  • Poor mice (Score:5, Funny)

    by jrumney ( 197329 ) on Thursday February 26, 2015 @08:18PM (#49143075)
    It's a bugger when the species you genetically engineered to solve complex mathematical equations starts experimenting on your brain.

  • Unintended Consequences (Score:3, Funny)

    by Limekiller42 ( 1381683 ) on Thursday February 26, 2015 @08:21PM (#49143093)
    Look, I'm all about the advancement of science and human knowledge, but this feels like the neurobiological version of "Hold my beer and watch this." I'm sure it seemed like a good idea at the time, science people, but when our new rodent masters (who I, of course, welcome) enslave the human race and bring about Planet of the Apes: Mickey Mouse Edition maybe you'll be a bit more careful next time.

    • Re:Unintended Consequences (Score:4, Insightful)

      by dpilot ( 134227 ) on Thursday February 26, 2015 @08:31PM (#49143143) Homepage Journal

      At what point does it become unethical to consider and treat these as lab animals. How much brain complexity is enough? This probably isn't it, and our A.I. isn't good enough yet. But some year we're going to cross the line, and I'm sure that as a society we're going to be completely unaware and in denial when we do.

    • They wouldn't dare violate the intellectual property rights of Disney.

    • Because they are strong enough to escape from their cages?

      I hope this was tongue in cheek and I'm an idiot.

      Because they aren't going to put this, along with strength genes, into the same species, at the same time, until they realize that they need to do this. Unless they are stupid, these will be gradual steps with no idiotic guards who all of a sudden decide to abandon their posts.

      This is very important for understanding how these genes interact, and actually work in an organism. We don't know how our ge

    • It would be more interesting to do it with a larger animal with a bigger brain. Could you raise an elephant that was smarter than people?

      *Pauses, looks at Congress.*

      Never mind. Already there.

      • I immediately thought of putting it into a whale, God knows what we could create then.. (insane Frankenstein cackle....)

  • Finally, "The Brain" will be a reality. The cartoon was prescient in its detail.

  • Are we calling this one Gamma? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TWX ( 665546 ) on Thursday February 26, 2015 @08:22PM (#49143099)
    I don't care for this new UI. What I really don't care for though, is the increase in cross-site javascript. I've been using Slashdot since it had no client-side scripting, and it worked just fine without any javascript at all.

    I think that Slashdot/Dice is telling me that it's time to get off the computer and go out and live my life in the real world again. Perhaps I should listen.

    • Re:Are we calling this one Gamma? (Score:5, Informative)

      by jrumney ( 197329 ) on Thursday February 26, 2015 @08:25PM (#49143115)
      I'm calling it unreadable mess. (the bottom line of most posts, specifically).
    • The "Reply to This" button and the end of the comments are mashing together. So now beta is beta, but original is the new alpha?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Greyfox ( 87712 )
      Oh, I thought someone just took a shit on my Slashdot today. So... It's going to stay that way, huh? Huh...

      • Oh, I thought someone just took a shit on my Slashdot today.

        Today? Opening threads in new tabs/windows has been broken for a while now - the comment area is clipped to half of screen size, with a huge useless margin on the right.

        So... It's going to stay that way, huh?

        My guess is it's going to get worse. Someone has decided Beta is a matter of principle/authority/whatever for them, and is slowly sabotaging the real Slashdot to smoke out the users before it'll go down.

        I guess the lesson here is to never bui

        • I wonder if a forum or an imageboard could be implemented in a P2P fashion?

          I think teh usenets worked (or could be made to work) like that, but everyone old enough to know is probably dead or doolally.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Greyfox ( 87712 )
            I set up UUCP to uunet once. Does that count? I think I still have a box of bangs around somewhere, I guess I could do it again.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by morkk ( 42729 )

      >and it worked just fine without any javascript at all
      it still does

  • And that kids is how mice first became intelligent and eventually took over the earth. Later the crew of an earth space ship from the past crashed on earth and were captured by the mice. When one tried to escape the mice netted him and he uttered the classic line, "Get your stinking paws off me you damn dirty mice!"

    All the mice really wanted was the recipe for cheese.

  • I, for one... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ...welcome our new hyperintelligent mouse overlords.

  • Why are we still using Xerox? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Stoutlimb ( 143245 ) on Thursday February 26, 2015 @10:03PM (#49143807)

    Xeroxing has become a seriously anachronistic term. Believe it or not, the target audience does know words like "duplicate" or "copy", but younger generations exposure to the "Xerox" company is very limited. Let that word die please.

  • Xeroxed ? (Score:3)

    by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Thursday February 26, 2015 @10:08PM (#49143845)

    You mean photocopied or something having to do with a registered trademark? Why not simply "Copied".

  • The concept of "co-opting" genetic material is old news. It was a key argument in the Behe Dover trial over Irreducible Complexity, which itself devolved into straw man attacks and false claims made about research papers. http://www.discovery.org/a/142... [discovery.org] This article also elaborates on the over simplification in defining "genetic material", and is a good start in understanding why genetic co-opting isn't a widely accepted theory.

    One key problem with any mutation, including attempts to explain new genetic m

  • Could we make other animals smarter before we create AI? Wow! that would be interesting. Imagine, "an ape just took your job".
  • Who are we going to do first, the chimps or the dolphins?
  • happen to be named Moreau?
  • "Hey, we found Pandora's Box! Let's crack that sucker open!"
  • Can these enhancements enable the rat to learn the art of Ninjutsu?
  • I will welcome our rodent overlords as our saviors from the robot overlords mentioned earlier this week.
  • We can do a tremendous variety of things with our hands. Witness my typing for an example of the incredibly sophisticated and dextrous manipulation of my physical environment that I can effect with training and practice (especially considering how crappy the keyboard on my laptop is). I think that having a large terminal bundle of neurons is great, but you have to be able to do a lot of different things with it in order to learn to be a good learner.

    One thing I have spent some time pondering: creatures t

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