Humans // Current

In What Language Does Your Baby Cry?

Excerpt: The wail of a newborn may sound the same to the ears of sleep-deprived... more

Vierotchka
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21 days ago
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Who own's You? The Devil's Son, POPE. and his daughter The QUEEN

wake up Sheeple, this is getting close to crunch time. we dont have much time left... more

unclepete813
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1 month ago
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Major human ancestry breakthrough - Before Lucy came Ardi, new earliest hominid found

WASHINGTON – The story of humankind is reaching back another million years as... more

sk8r408
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1 month ago
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Healthy Pet, Healthy You (MWV32)

Animal, human and environmental health are inexorably intertwined. Diseases are making... more

csuspect
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1 month ago
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7 ways you may seem godlike to an ancient human

We take so much for granted. If we could just flash back to the age where our... more

memenode
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1 month ago
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Blue-Eyed Humans Have a Single, Common Ancestor

New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team at the University of Copenhagen have tracked down a genetic mutation which took place between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago and is the cause of the eye color of all blue-eyed humans alive on the planet today.

What is the genetic mutation

“Originally, we all had brown eyes”, said Professor Eiberg from the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. “But a genetic mutation affecting the OCA2 gene in our chromosomes resulted in the creation of a “switch”, which literally “turned off” the ability to produce brown eyes”. The OCA2 gene codes for the so-called P protein, which is involved in the production of melanin, the pigment that gives color to our hair, eyes and skin. The “switch”, which is located in the gene adjacent to OCA2 does not, however, turn off the gene entirely, but rather limits its action to reducing the production of melanin in the iris – effectively “diluting” brown eyes to blue. The switch’s effect on OCA2 is very specific therefore. If the OCA2 gene had been completely destroyed or turned off, human beings would be without melanin in their hair, eyes or skin color – a condition known as albinism.

Limited genetic variation

Variation in the colour of the eyes from brown to green can all be explained by the amount of melanin in the iris, but blue-eyed individuals only have a small degree of variation in the amount of melanin in their eyes. “From this we can conclude that all blue-eyed individuals are linked to the same ancestor,” says Professor Eiberg. “They have all inherited the same switch at exactly the same spot in their DNA.” Brown-eyed individuals, by contrast, have considerable individual variation in the area of their DNA that controls melanin production.

Professor Eiberg and his team examined mitochondrial DNA and compared the eye colour of blue-eyed individuals in countries as diverse as Jordan, Denmark and Turkey. His findings are the latest in a decade of genetic research, which began in 1996, when Professor Eiberg first implicated the OCA2 gene as being responsible for eye colour.

Nature shuffles our genes

The mutation of brown eyes to blue represents neither a positive nor a negative mutation. It is one of several mutations such as hair color, baldness, freckles and beauty spots, which neither increases nor reduces a human’s chance of survival. As Professor Eiberg says, “it simply shows that nature is constantly shuffling the human genome, creating a genetic cocktail of human chromosomes and trying out different changes as it does so.”New research shows that people with blue eyes have a single, common ancestor. A team... more

EmperorThan
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2 months ago
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If I Were a Fly

My mother always told me that “if” is one of the most powerful words in the... more

CHANLEEPENG
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2 months ago
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Scientists: We Are All Mutants

This explains many things.

Progresshiv
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3 months ago
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3 comments

Robot with muscles and bones, micmics human movement

This robot -- known as the Eccerobot (Embodied Cognition in a Compliantly Engineered... more

Skyscraper08
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3 months ago
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3 comments

Dogs Are As Smart as 2-Year-Old Humans

Ever wonder why your dog seems to be a bit smarter than your child? Stanley Coren, a canine expert and professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia, says that, according to a study he has conducted with various breeds of dogs, the average dog is as developmentally intelligent as the average 2-year-old human child. Studies that include modified tests for children have been used to gauge the relative intelligence of dogs of later and the animals may actually be a little more intelligent than many people have thought. According to the article in Live Science, Coren collected data from 200 dog obedience schools in Canada and the United States and found that the smartest canines averaged in intelligence with a 2-and-a-half-year-old child.

On average dogs can learn approximately 165 words. The more intelligent dogs can acquire a vocabulary awareness of around 250 words. In math skills, dogs are aware of numerical differences up to five digits and can calculate the difference. The word and math skills are equivalent to that of a child of 2 to 2.5 years of age.

Yet, as far as socialization is concerned, dogs are as intelligent as the average teenager. Coren says their socialization is "complex" and their concerns center around being "interested in who is moving up in the pack and who is sleeping with who and that sort of thing." (If one is surprised to hear these findings, it should be noted that Dr. Drew Pinsky, host of the popular radio talk show "Loveline," relates in his book The Mirror Effect that the mind of a teenager is much like the mind of and infant child, going through radical changes in growth, chemical composition, and overall cognitive development.)

"We all want insight into how our furry companions think, and we want to understand the silly, quirky and apparently irrational behaviors [that] Lassie or Rover demonstrate," Stanley Coren said. He will present the findings of his studies at the American Psychological Association's annual meeting in Toronto. "Their stunning flashes of brilliance and creativity are reminders that they may not be Einsteins but are sure closer to humans than we thought."Ever wonder why your dog seems to be a bit smarter than your child? Stanley Coren, a... more