Home | Community | Message Board

MagicBag Grow Bags
This site includes paid links. Please support our sponsors.


Welcome to the Shroomery Message Board! You are experiencing a small sample of what the site has to offer. Please login or register to post messages and view our exclusive members-only content. You'll gain access to additional forums, file attachments, board customizations, encrypted private messages, and much more!

Shop: PhytoExtractum Kratom Powder for Sale   Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom

Jump to first unread post Pages: 1
OfflineMagicalMystery
turn off yourmind

Registered: 07/27/05
Posts: 1,740
Loc: Here, there and everywher...
Last seen: 18 years, 4 months
Brain Evolution and Race
    #4636837 - 09/09/05 02:19 AM (18 years, 6 months ago)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050908/ap_on_sc/brain_evolution

Quote:

WASHINGTON - The human brain may still be evolving. So suggests new research that tracked changes in two genes thought to help regulate brain growth, changes that appeared well after the rise of modern humans 200,000 years ago.

That the defining feature of humans ? our large brains ? continued to evolve as recently as 5,800 years ago, and may be doing so today, promises to surprise the average person, if not biologists.

"We, including scientists, have considered ourselves as sort of the pinnacle of evolution," noted lead researcher Bruce Lahn, a University of Chicago geneticist whose studies appear in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

"There's a sense we as humans have kind of peaked," agreed Greg Wray, director of Duke University's Center for Evolutionary Genomics. "A different way to look at is it's almost impossible for evolution not to happen."

Still, the findings also are controversial, because it's far from clear what effect the genetic changes had or if they arose when Lahn's "molecular clock" suggests ? at roughly the same time period as some cultural achievements, including written language and the development of cities.

Lahn and colleagues examined two genes, named microcephalin and ASPM, that are connected to brain size. If those genes don't work, babies are born with severely small brains, called microcephaly.

Using DNA samples from ethnically diverse populations, they identified a collection of variations in each gene that occurred with unusually high frequency. In fact, the variations were so common they couldn't be accidental mutations but instead were probably due to natural selection, where genetic changes that are favorable to a species quickly gain a foothold and begin to spread, the researchers report.

Lahn offers an analogy: Medieval monks would copy manuscripts and each copy would inevitably contain errors ? accidental mutations. Years later, a ruler declares one of those copies the definitive manuscript, and a rush is on to make many copies of that version ? so whatever changes from the original are in this presumed important copy become widely disseminated.

Scientists attempt to date genetic changes by tracing back to such spread, using a statistical model that assumes genes have a certain mutation rate over time.

For the microcephalin gene, the variation arose about 37,000 years ago, about the time period when art, music and tool-making were emerging, Lahn said. For ASPM, the variation arose about 5,800 years ago, roughly correlating with the development of written language, spread of agriculture and development of cities, he said.

"The genetic evolution of humans in the very recent past might in some ways be linked to the cultural evolution," he said.

Other scientists urge great caution in interpreting the research.

That the genetic changes have anything to do with brain size or intelligence "is totally unproven and potentially dangerous territory to get into with such sketchy data," stressed Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Aside from not knowing what the gene variants actually do, no one knows how precise the model Lahn used to date them is, Collins added.

Lahn's own calculations acknowledge that the microcephalin variant could have arisen anywhere from 14,000 to 60,000 years ago, and that the uncertainty about the ASPM variant ranged from 500 to 14,000 years ago.

Those criticisms are particularly important, Collins said, because Lahn's testing did find geographic differences in populations harboring the gene variants today. They were less common in sub-Saharan African populations, for example.

That does not mean one population is smarter than another, Lahn and other scientists stressed, noting that numerous other genes are key to brain development.

"There's just no correlation," said Duke's Wray, calling education and other environmental factors more important for intelligence than DNA anyway.

The work was funded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.





Interesting study.


--------------------

"Men trained in arms from their infancy, and animated by the love of liberty, will afford neither a cheap or easy conquest."
From the Declaration of the Continental Congress

"We can have peace and security only as long as we band together to preserve that most priceless possession, our inheritance of European blood."
Charles A. Lindbergh,"Aviation, Geography, and Race", Reader's Digest, Nov. 1939

"We must secure the existance of our people and a future for White children."
David Lane

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleAnnapurna1
liberal pussy
Female User Gallery
Registered: 05/21/02
Posts: 5,646
Loc: innsmouth..MA
Re: Brain Evolution and Race [Re: MagicalMystery]
    #4637076 - 09/09/05 07:03 AM (18 years, 6 months ago)

thats sounds just as rediculous as helen fisher...


--------------------


"anchor blocks counteract the process of pontiprobation..while omalean globes regulize the pressure"...

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
InvisibleKingOftheThing
the cool fool
 User Gallery

Registered: 11/17/02
Posts: 27,397
Loc: USA
Re: Brain Evolution and Race [Re: MagicalMystery]
    #4637099 - 09/09/05 07:38 AM (18 years, 6 months ago)

"the jury is still out on evolution" - george w bush (aka dumbass)

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineProsgeopax
Jaded, yethopeful?

Registered: 01/28/05
Posts: 1,258
Loc: Appearing at a mall near ...
Last seen: 18 years, 3 months
Re: Brain Evolution and Race [Re: Annapurna1]
    #4637238 - 09/09/05 09:16 AM (18 years, 6 months ago)

Quote:

Annapurna1 said:
thats sounds just as rediculous as helen fisher...



What specifically, is ridiculous in the article?


--------------------
Money doesn't grow on trees, but deficits do grow under Bushes.

You can accept, reject, or examine and test any new idea that comes to you. The wise man chooses the third way.
- Tom Willhite

Disclaimer: I reserve the right to change my opinions should I become aware of additional facts, the falsification of information or different perspectives. Articles written by others which I post may not necessarily reflect my opinions in part or in whole, my opinions may be in direct opposition, the topic may be one on which I have yet to formulate an opinion or have doubts about, an article may be posted solely with the intent to stimulate discussion or contemplation.

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
OfflineBaby_Hitler
Errorist
 User Gallery

Folding@home Statistics
Registered: 03/06/02
Posts: 27,634
Loc: To the limit!
Last seen: 8 hours, 11 minutes
Re: Brain Evolution and Race [Re: Annapurna1]
    #4637255 - 09/09/05 09:24 AM (18 years, 6 months ago)

Linkie no workie.


You have to log in. :shrug:


--------------------
"America: Fuck yeah!" -- Alexthegreat

“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.”  -- Thomas Jefferson

The greatest sin of mankind is ignorance.

The press takes [Trump] literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally. --Salena Zeto (9/23/16)

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinephi1618
old hand

Registered: 02/14/04
Posts: 4,102
Last seen: 13 years, 10 months
Re: Brain Evolution and Race [Re: MagicalMystery]
    #4637260 - 09/09/05 09:26 AM (18 years, 6 months ago)

This article is about uncertain new research. It has no political import.

Edited by phi1618 (09/09/05 09:34 AM)

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Offlinezappaisgod
horrid asshole

Registered: 02/11/04
Posts: 81,741
Loc: Fractallife's gym
Last seen: 7 years, 9 months
Re: Brain Evolution and Race [Re: phi1618]
    #4637594 - 09/09/05 11:24 AM (18 years, 6 months ago)

It is utterly irrelevant. The timetable for this variation is, what 37,000 years ago? When there was still widespread death of the population before reproduction. That simply does not exist now. Now, the most successful have the least offspring. Devolution. Are we not men? Not for long.


--------------------

Extras: Filter Print Post Top
Jump to top Pages: 1

Shop: PhytoExtractum Kratom Powder for Sale   Kraken Kratom Red Vein Kratom


Similar ThreadsPosterViewsRepliesLast post
* An interesting article about 'race'
( 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 all )
retread 11,603 158 10/08/04 06:17 PM
by retread
* The 10 most important contributions throughout time
( 1 2 3 4 all )
TheOneYouKnow 4,101 68 02/24/04 02:16 AM
by Baby_Hitler
* Kerry Favored Over Bush 47%-43% In Multi-Candidate Race fft2 1,065 11 08/19/04 08:03 PM
by Ed1
* The War on Drugs is Forcing Human Evolution icesickill 945 14 02/27/03 05:00 AM
by Azmodeus
* Interesting California referendum on race
( 1 2 3 all )
FileSoup 2,523 40 08/15/03 12:36 PM
by shakta
* U.S. Scientists Say They Are Told to Alter Findings
( 1 2 3 all )
Baby_Hitler 2,841 42 02/17/05 11:17 PM
by Prosgeopax
* Israel threatens walk out of U.N. race conference Ellis Dee 1,086 2 09/04/01 05:01 AM
by madscientist
* U.S. Scientists Say They Are Told to Alter Findings carbonhoots 404 1 02/10/05 11:49 PM
by The_Red_Crayon

Extra information
You cannot start new topics / You cannot reply to topics
HTML is disabled / BBCode is enabled
Moderator: Enlil, ballsalsa
443 topic views. 4 members, 7 guests and 21 web crawlers are browsing this forum.
[ Show Images Only | Sort by Score | Print Topic ]
Search this thread:

Copyright 1997-2024 Mind Media. Some rights reserved.

Generated in 0.024 seconds spending 0.006 seconds on 14 queries.