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, 2 April 2010
What Makes Chimps And Humans Different?
This is one of three linked blog articles from America's National Public Radio, by biologist Ursula Goodenough. The others, posted below this are by Terry Deacon and Deacon + Goodenough. In this first piece Goodenough places great emphasis on the marvellous work being done by Kathy Pollack on HARs - highly accelerated regions of DNA in what were formerly supposed to be junk areas of the genome. These HARs produce RNAs that are involved in gene regulation and look responsible for normal neuron migration in the developing brain and in the build of the flexible wrist - allowing more manual dexterity in humans.
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