
The newly discovered gene that sets us apart from Neanderthals
Scientists believe this unique adaptation provided an evolutionary advantage. It enabled information sharing, coordinated activities, and knowledge transfer, setting us apart from extinct hominids like Neanderthals and Denisovans.
A study published in Nature Communications focuses on the NOVA1 protein, which is crucial for brain development.
Researchers used CRISPR technology to replace the mouse version of NOVA1 with the human variant.
The result: Altered vocalisations in the mice. Pups with the human variant squeaked differently when their mother approached, and adult males emitted distinct chirps in the presence of females.
Dr. Robert Darnell, an author of the study and a long-time researcher of NOVA1, believes this variant is among the genes that 'contributed to the emergence of Homo sapiens as the dominant species'.
Liza Finestack of the University of Minnesota, who was not involved in the study, agrees, calling it 'a good first step to start looking at the specific genes' influencing speech.
Future research building on these findings could potentially lead to breakthroughs in treating speech disorders.
This isn't the first time a gene has been linked to speech. In 2001, British scientists said they had discovered the first gene tied to a language and speech disorder.
Called FOXP2, it was referred to as the human language gene. But though FOXP2 is involved in human language, it turned out that the variant in modern humans wasn't unique to us. Later research found it was shared with Neanderthals.
The NOVA1 variant in modern humans, on the other hand, is found exclusively in our species, Darnell said.
The presence of a gene variant isn't the only reason people can speak. The ability also depends on things like anatomical features in the human throat and areas of the brain that work together to allow people to speak and understand language.
Dr Darnell hopes the recent work not only helps people better understand their origins but also eventually leads to new ways to treat speech-related problems.
Dr Finestack said it's more likely the genetic findings might someday allow scientists to detect, very early in life, who might need speech and language interventions.
'That's certainly a possibility,' she said.
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NBC News
2 days ago
- NBC News
The pandemic aged our brains, whether we got Covid or not, study finds
Brain aging may have sped up during the pandemic, even in people who didn't get sick from Covid, a new study suggests. Using brain scans from a very large database, British researchers determined that during the pandemic years of 2021 and 2022, people's brains showed signs of aging, including shrinkage, according to the report published in Nature Communications. People who got infected with the virus also showed deficits in certain cognitive abilities, such as processing speed and mental flexibility. The aging effect 'was most pronounced in males and those from more socioeconomically deprived backgrounds,' said the study's first author, Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad, a neuroimaging researcher at the University of Nottingham, via email. 'It highlights that brain health is not shaped solely by illness, but also by broader life experiences.' Overall, the researchers found a 5.5-month acceleration in aging associated with the pandemic. On average, the difference in brain aging between men and women was small, about 2.5 months. 'We don't yet know exactly why, but this fits with other research suggesting that men may be more affected by certain types of stress or health challenges,' Mohammadi-Nejad said. Brains shrink as people age. When gray matter shrinks prematurely, it can lead to memory loss or judgment problems, although the pandemic study doesn't show whether people with structural changes will eventually develop cognitive deficits. The study wasn't designed to pinpoint specific causes. 'But it is likely that the cumulative experience of the pandemic—including psychological stress, social isolation, disruptions in daily life, reduced activity and wellness—contributed to the observed changes,' Mohammadi-Nejad said. 'In this sense, the pandemic period itself appears to have left a mark on our brains, even in the absence of infection.' An earlier study on how teenagers' brains were affected by the pandemic discovered a similar result. The 2024 research from the University of Washington found that boys' brains had aged the equivalent of 1.4 years extra during the pandemic, while girls aged an extra 4.2 years. In the new study, Mohammadi-Nejad and his team turned to the UK Biobank, a massive database which launched in 2006, to determine whether the pandemic had any impact on people's brains. The database has been keeping track of anonymous health data from 500,000 volunteers who were recruited between 2006 and 2010, when the participants were between 40 to 69 years old. Thus far, the biobank has collected 100,000 whole body scans. To develop a baseline model of normal aging, to compare with what might have occurred during the pandemic years, the researchers used imaging data from 15,334 healthy individuals that had been collected prior to the pandemic. 'We used this large dataset to teach our model what typical, healthy brain ageing looks like across the adult lifespan,' Mohammadi-Nejad explained. Next the researchers turned to a group of 996 participants who had two scans, the second taking place on average 2.3 years after the first. Of these participants, 564 had both scans prior to the pandemic, which helped the artificial intelligence learn how the brain changes when there is no pandemic. The other 432 had a second scan after the start of the pandemic, mostly between 2021 and 2022, allowing the researchers to investigate how the pandemic might have affected brain aging. Although these second scans were done later in the pandemic, 'they reflect brain changes that likely happened during the height of the pandemic, when people experienced the most disruption,' Mohammadi-Nejad said. Other research has suggested that environmental factors might cause a person's brain to age prematurely. One study conducted in the Antarctic tied living in relative isolation to brain shrinkage. 'The most intriguing finding in this study is that only those who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 showed any cognitive deficits, despite structural aging,' said Jacqueline Becker, a clinical neuropsychologist and assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. 'This speaks a little to the effects of the virus itself.' And that may eventually help explain syndromes, such as long Covid and chronic fatigue, she said. What we don't know from this study is whether the structural brain changes observed in people who didn't get Covid will amount to any observable changes in brain function, Becker said. Adam Brickman, a professor of neuropsychology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, said the study is a compelling narrative, but 'still a hypothesis.' It doesn't show whether the accelerated aging seen in people who didn't get Covid will persist long term, said Brickman, who was not involved with the study. If the brain indeed was changed by the pandemic in meaningful ways, then people might counter those changes by doing things that are healthy for the brain, he said. 'We know that exercise is good for the brain and keeping blood pressure at a healthy level, for example. We know that sleep and social interactions are important.'

Rhyl Journal
2 days ago
- Rhyl Journal
Covid crisis was ‘detrimental to brain health'
Academics suggest the strain on people's lives – from isolation for weeks on end to the uncertainty surrounding the crisis – may have aged the brains of the nation. They found that brain ageing during the pandemic was 'more pronounced' among men, older people and people from deprived backgrounds. Brain ageing models were trained on more than 15,000 healthy people. These were then applied to almost 1,000 people taking part in the UK Biobank study – a long-term study tracking the health of middle and older aged adults. Half of the group had brain scans before the pandemic while the others had brain scans before and after the global crisis. After looking at the scans, academics said that the pandemic 'significantly' accelerated brain ageing. This was assessed by their brain age, as determined by the scans, compared with their actual age. The research team found that, on average, the scans taken after people had lived through the crisis had a '5.5-month higher deviation of brain age gap'. 'We found that the Covid-19 pandemic was detrimental to brain health and induced accelerated brain ageing… regardless of SARS-CoV-2 infection,' the experts from the University of Nottingham wrote in the journal Nature Communications. Dr Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad, who led the study, said: 'What surprised me most was that even people who hadn't had Covid showed significant increases in brain ageing rates. 'It really shows how much the experience of the pandemic itself, everything from isolation to uncertainty, may have affected our brain health.' The research team also examined whether having Covid-19 affected someone's cognitive performance by examining the results of tests taken at the time of the scans. They found that people who were infected with the virus appeared to perform more poorly on cognitive tests when they were assessed again after the pandemic. Professor Dorothee Auer, professor of neuroimaging and senior author on the study, added: 'This study reminds us that brain health is shaped not only by illness, but by our everyday environment. 'The pandemic put a strain on people's lives, especially those already facing disadvantage. We can't yet test whether the changes we saw will reverse, but it's certainly possible, and that's an encouraging thought.'


Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Didn't catch Covid? 'Surprising' finding suggests pandemic may still have harmed your health
Brain ageing during the pandemic was 'more pronounced' among men, older people and those from deprived backgrounds, academics found It was a devastating time marked by death, fear and isolation for many – but those who didn't catch Covid during the pandemic could at least count themselves somewhat lucky. Now a study has discovered the crisis appears to have harmed brain health, even among people who were never infected. The strain on people's lives – from weeks of isolation to uncertainty – may have aged the nation's brains, academics suggest. Brain ageing during the pandemic was "more pronounced" among men, older people and those from deprived backgrounds, they found. Brain ageing models were trained on over 15,000 healthy people. They were then applied to nearly 1,000 people taking part in the UK Biobank study – long-term research tracking the health of middle and older aged adults. Half of the group had brain scans before the pandemic, with the others having them before and after the global crisis. After looking at the scans, academics said that the pandemic "significantly" accelerated brain ageing. This was assessed by their brain age, as determined by the scans, compared with their actual age. On average, the scans taken after people had lived through the crisis had a "5.5-month higher deviation of brain age gap", the research team found. "We found that the Covid-19 pandemic was detrimental to brain health and induced accelerated brain ageing... regardless of SARS-CoV-2 infection," experts from the University of Nottingham wrote in the journal Nature Communications. Dr Ali-Reza Mohammadi-Nejad, who led the study, said: "What surprised me most was that even people who hadn't had Covid showed significant increases in brain ageing rates. It really shows how much the experience of the pandemic itself, everything from isolation to uncertainty, may have affected our brain health." The team also examined whether having Covid-19 affected someone's cognitive performance by examining the results of tests taken at the time of the scans. People who were infected with the virus appeared to perform more poorly on cognitive tests when they were assessed again after the pandemic, they found. Professor Dorothee Auer, senior author on the study, added: "This study reminds us that brain health is shaped not only by illness, but by our everyday environment. The pandemic put a strain on people's lives, especially those already facing disadvantage. We can't yet test whether the changes we saw will reverse, but it's certainly possible, and that's an encouraging thought." In the UK, nearly 227,000 people died with Covid listed as a cause on their death certificate from March 2020 to May 2023. Last year, the Covid inquiry 's first report found there were 'several significant flaws' in the UK's pandemic planning before the virus struck. Baroness Hallett, the inquiry's chair, said the UK was 'ill-prepared for dealing with a catastrophic emergency, let alone the coronavirus pandemic".