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----------------------------- 2221 - Genetics - Where I came from?
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- I am sitting here writing this Review using a brain I inherited just so I could learn where the brain came from. Research in our brain lineage is finding new evidence that takes us back 4,000,000 years.. Here is bits and pieces of what we have learned. Sorry it is a crooked path and not nearly a straight line.
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- This story all started 14,000,000 years ago when Gorillas split off from Orangutans. Then Chimpanzees split off from Gorillas some 8,000,000 years ago. We humans split off from them into three groups about 500,000 years ago, Humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans.
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- We bipedal humans walk on two legs. However, we likely evolved some 3,320,000 years ago from tree dwellers that did not. Analyzing partial feet bones from the 3,320,000 old fossils were reported as adaptations from efficient tree climbing. The theory is that younger individuals hung out in the trees for safety. Then, once fully grown spent time on the ground foraging.
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- The human brain is big in relation to body size. It is six times bigger than that of other placental mammals.
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- There is a family of genes found in all animals. These genes are critical to the embryo’s development. These genes produce those proteins that tell the stem cells what to turn into. Their instructions produce cells ranging from neurons, to muscles, to brain cells.
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- 14,000,000 years our ancestors somehow got an extra hunk of DNA. This particular genetic code is still present in chimps and gorillas. But, it is not present in Orangutans.
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- 4,000,000 years ago our own lineage split off from the other apes. This new gene pumped up the neurons into advanced cognitive thinking. This same gene is found in Humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans.
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- Our brains are 4% of our body weight but consume 20% of our energy. What caused development in these larger brains? Was it the social challenges in the group, both cooperative and competitive? Was it ecological challenges of finding food and avoiding predators? Or, was it cultural challenges in sharing knowledge and skills like I am sharing now?
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- A particular study found the extra brain size was 60% used for ecological challenges, 30% for collaboration, and 10% for group competition and family disputes.
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- Our earliest human ancestors branched off the primate family tree in Africa. But, the evidence from there is spread around the world.
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- 2,100,000 years go in China stone tools were found that span over 800,000 years of time. A 1,630,000 year old partial human skull was unearthed there.
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- Many stone tools were found in India dated to 385,000 years ago.
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- The jaw of a modern human was found in Israel dated to be 194,000 years old.
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- In Siberia a bone was found dated to be 90,000 years old. The genome found in the bone determined that it was from a girl that was a teenager of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father.
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- In Saudi Arabia a finger bone was found of a modern human living there 85,000 years ago. With this bone were animal bones, stone tools, and sediment evidence that it was next to a fresh water lake surrounded by a grassland full of game.
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- The Garden of Eden must be around there somewhere.
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- Other Reviews available:
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- 999 - The human genome and your health. All life on Earth can be traced to simple sections of the DNA. The A, T, G, and C nucleotides are called the genome. Your genome can even be traced to if you eat asparagus and you can smell your pee. Well can you? Not everyone can. It depends on your genome.
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- December 31, 2018
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-------------------------- Monday, December 31, 2018 --------------------------
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