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?
Thursday, 23 February 2012
Our Missing Genes
In a chapter titled LESS IS MORE in my book NOT A CHIMP I talk about a number of loss-of-function mutations in the human genome where a gene that functions in our primate cousins has become silenced in us. Turned into a pseudogene. Sometimes this can lead to disease and sometimes it can be shown that it is adaptive - part of the evolution of our genome. In this report on a recent SCIENCE paper, the research group found over 1000 genuine loss-of-function mutations in the human genome and suggested every European has at least 20 of them.
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