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?
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
A NEUROSCIENTIST UNCOVERS A DARK SECRET
Nice piece for NPR from Barbara Bradley Hagerty about the deficits in orbito-frontal cortex (see my stuff on the social brain in Not A Chimp) in psychopaths - by neuroscientist James Fallon. Really interesting spooky story because Fallon used his own family to look for abnormalities in o-r cortex and variants of the gene MAO-A - which are known to predispose to violence - because lurking in his family's history were a number of known murderers! His extant family turned out to be abnormal with the excerption of himself. Fallon discovered, to his discomfort, that his orbito-frontal cortex bore all the signs of psychopathy, while he also proved positive for the presence of the notorious short variant of MAO-A! However the vital gene-environment interaction - a violent and abused childhood - was the final ingredient missing from Fallon's mix. He had experienced a blissful childhood - which is why he turned into a loving husband and prominent scientist - and not a violent murderer!