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The newly discovered gene that sets us apart from Neanderthals

The newly discovered gene that sets us apart from Neanderthals

Independent18-02-2025
The evolution of human speech – a cornerstone of our survival and dominance – may be linked to a specific genetic variant, new research suggests.
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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Neanderthals were not ‘hypercarnivores' and feasted on maggots, scientists say
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Neanderthals were not ‘hypercarnivores' and feasted on maggots, scientists say
Neanderthals were not ‘hypercarnivores' and feasted on maggots, scientists say

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Our ancestors were CANNIBALS: Scientists discover grisly evidence ancient human species ate children 850,000 years ago
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time2 days ago

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Ancient human ancestors ate small children 850,000 years ago, a gruesome discovery suggests. Archaeologists working at the Gran Dolina cave site in Atapuerca, northern Spain, have unearthed a human neck bone belonging to a child who died sometime between the ages of two and four. It features clear butchery marks, providing direct evidence the infant was decapitated and cannibalised, they said. The vertebra was found with other bones and teeth belonging to Homo antecessor - thought to be the last common ancestor of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. It was uncovered by a team from the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES), who have been excavating the site for over three decades. Nearly a third of all bones found in the cave so far have cut marks that suggest these early humans were cannibals. 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How Homo antecessor may be related to other Homo species in Europe has a subject of fierce debate. Many anthropologists believe there was an evolutionary link between Homo ergaster and Homo heidelbergensis. Archaeologist Richard Klein claims Homo antecessor was a separate species completely, that evolved from Homo ergaster. However, others claim Homo antecessor is actually the same species as Homo heidelbergensis, who lived in Europe between 600,000 and 250,000 years ago in the Pleistocene era. In 2010 stone tools were found at the same site in Happisburgh, Norfolk, believed to have been used by Homo antecessor. Scientists believe that these early human species would breed with one another on a regular basis. Dr Matthias Meyer, a palaeogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, in Leipzig, Germany said: 'The evolutionary history of archaic humans in the Middle Pleistocene was quite complex. 'It could be that both the ancestors of the Sima people and Denisovans interbred with another archaic group like Homo antecessor or Homo erectus.

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