Are we humans simply remodelled apes? Chimps with a tweak? Is the difference between our genomes so minuscule it justifies the argument that our cognition and behaviour must also differ from chimps by barely a whisker? If “chimps are us” should we grant them human rights? Or is this one of the biggest fallacies in the study of evolution? NOT A CHIMP argues that these similarities have been grossly over-exaggerated - we should keep chimps at arm’s length. Are humans cognitively unique after all?
Friday, 22 January 2010
Is Rice Cultivation To Blame For Red-Faced Asians?
Here's a very interesting gene-culture co-evolution story from Michael Balter in Science magazine. It suggests that gene evolution of alcohol dehydrogenase follwed the widespread adoption of alcohol consumption from rice between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago, in China. As such, if true, it follows the lactase story and the NAT2 story (down regulation of acetylation in the liver following the practice ingestion of cereal proteins in the fertile crescent that accompanied the beginning of cereal cultivation).
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