Study Shows How Comparable Human’s Brain Is To A Chimps
Scientists are trying to figure out which pieces of DNA are responsible for giving us unique characteristics. They could be closer to figuring that out with the discovery of a DNA sequence that when it was brought to mice, it made their brains 12% larger than those with the same stretch from chimps. It controls the activity of other genes rather than code for a protein. This could lead us to why we have superior brains. The study was published in Current Biology.
The neocortex is a new addition to our brain and contains some 100 billion cells. Helps the higher mental function and is much smaller than most ape species. Its genetic basis has been elusive but its expansion throughout human evolution has shaped our mental abilities. Though there are many other differences between our and a chimp’s brain, we still share 95% of our DNA with them.
