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?
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
We Still Can't Explain Biology With Molecules
A nice little head-scratching type of essay by Michael White. How did changes at the level of the molecular sequence structure of our genes, or the levels of gene expression, actually make us human - or, more precisely, how do they actually account for the phenotypic differences between us and the main comparison species - the chimpanzee? White quotes Gregory Wray (see NOT A CHIMP) who has proved King and Wilson's theory that changes in gene expression count more than nucleotide substitutions in the sequence of genes. What were all these genes with elevated expression levels doing in human brains? White quotes Wray: "Differentially expressed tags within coding regions are enriched for gene functions involved in synaptic transmission, transport, oxidative phosphorylation, and lipid metabolism". What can you actually do with this list of genes, and gene function, asks White. How do differences in these sorts of functions make us a human and not a chimp?
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