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Blobrana


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Study links evolution of single gene to human capacity for language
If humans are genetically related to chimps, why did our brains develop the innate ability for language and speech while theirs did not?
Scientists suspect that part of the answer to the mystery lies in a gene called FOXP2. When mutated, FOXP2 can disrupt speech and language in humans. Now, a UCLA-Emory University study reveals major differences between how the human and chimp versions of FOXP2 work, perhaps explaining why language is unique to humans.
Published Nov. 11 in the online edition of the journal Nature, the findings provide insight into the evolution of the human brain and may point to possible drug targets for human disorders characterized by speech disruption, such as autism and schizophrenia.

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Blobrana


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Ancient Skull Shows Early Primates Didn't Need Big Brains
Compared with other mammals, primates--from lemurs to humans--have huge brains. But scientists still don't know exactly why--or even when--our brains ballooned. A new study, published yesterday in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, postulates that even without big brains, early primates were able to do a lot of primatelike things--a finding that calls into question many of the prevailing evolutionary theories.

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Blobrana


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One of the earliest primates lived in trees and relied more on smell than vision, a new study indicates. A tiny cousin of the earliest ancestors of humans lived 54 million years ago in what is now Wyoming, researchers report in Tuesday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Researchers led by Mary T. Silcox used a CT-scan to study the 1.5-inch skull of a primate known as Ignacius graybullianus.

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Blobrana


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As a follower of the evolution debate, I love it when new "missing links" are found.
Not only does the media plunge headfirst into a crusade for Darwin, but suspiciously, it is only after unveiling the breakthrough that evolutionary biologists admit how precious little evidence they previously held for the evolutionary transition in question.
Take the recent media coverage of a fossil primate named "Ida," hailed as the "eighth wonder of the world," whose "impact on the world of palaeontology" is being compared to "an asteroid falling down to Earth."

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Blobrana


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The genome of the evolutionary ancestor of humans and present-day apes underwent a burst of activity in duplicating segments of DNA, according to a study to be published in Nature Feb 12, the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birthday.

"The new study shows big differences in the genomes of humans and great apes within duplicated sequences containing rapidly evolving genes. Most of these differences occurred at a time just prior to the speciation of chimpanzee, gorilla, and humans" - University of Washington (UW) researchers Tomas Marques-Bonet and Jeffrey M. Kidd who headed the study. Both are fellows in the lab of Evan Eichler, UW professor of genome sciences, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and senior author of the paper.

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Blobrana


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Tiny fossilised teeth excavated from an Indian open-pit coal mine could be the oldest Asian remains ever found of anthropoids, the primate lineage of today's monkeys, apes and humans, say researchers from Duke University and the Indian Institute of Technology.
Just 9-thousandths of a square inch in size, the teeth are about 54.5 million years old and suggest these early primates were no larger than modern dwarf lemurs weighing about 2 to 3 ounces. Studies of the shape of the teeth suggest these small animals could live on a fruit and insect diet, according to the researchers.

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-- Edited by Blobrana at 17:56, 2008-08-05

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Blobrana


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Scientists Discover That Large-Brained Simians of the New and Old Worlds Independently Arose from Smaller-Brained Ancestors
After taking a fresh look at an old fossil, John Flynn, Frick Curator of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, and colleagues determined that the brains of the ancestors of modern Neotropical primates were as small as those of their early fossil simian counterparts in the Old World. This means one of the hallmarks of primate biology, increased brain size, arose independently in isolated groups—the platyrrhines of the Americas and the catarrhines of Africa and Eurasia.

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Blobrana


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Spain is to become the first country to extend legal rights to apes, surprising animal rights activists who have long campaigned against bullfighting in the country.
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Blobrana


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A gliding mammal that lives in the forests of south-east Asia is our closest relative after apes, monkeys and lemurs, a DNA study shows.
Colugos are the "sisters" of primates, sharing a common ancestor some 80 million years ago when dinosaurs had their heyday, say US scientists.
Until now, many experts thought tree shrews were closer to primates.
Writing in Science, the team calls for urgent action to decipher the full genome sequence of colugos.

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