
Human DNA enlarges mouse brains - mrfusion
http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2015/02/human-dna-enlarges-mouse-brains
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derekp7
I was just thinking about this topic the other day -- how hard was it to
develop the genes that separate human intelligence from other primates? In
other words, if all humans disappeared from earth, then given another couple
dozen million years or so, what is the likelihood of another intelligent
species coming about?

Of course, human intelligence is hard to pin down -- for my personal
definition, it is the ability to specifically communicate new ideas to other
members (i.e., not other members just picking up a skill from observation
only, but for one to be a teacher), and to be able to (as a group) remember
and pass down history. Oh, and the ability to develop a space program.

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dbbolton
My bet is that, if we did disappear and another species "caught up" so to
speak, the descendants of modern chimps would take the crown, with the right
evolutionary pressures, in 5 million years at the earliest. That's about how
long ago we forked:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimpanzee%E2%80%93human_last_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimpanzee%E2%80%93human_last_common_ancestor)

Of course I wouldn't bet too much, because it's really a bet on many, many
events occurring together, and we're all familiar with the product law.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution)

If we started a human-directed breeding program to develop chimps capable of
language (arbitrarily chosen marker of intelligence) right now, I would guess
we might be able to cut that time down to merely hundreds of thousands of
years.

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kanzure
> If we started a human-directed breeding program to develop chimps capable of
> language (arbitrarily chosen marker of intelligence) right now, I would
> guess we might be able to cut that time down to merely hundreds of thousands
> of years.

Another option is to pick a collection of human genes that seem like they may
be relevant, and just insert them into chimp genomes. Followed by something
like your selective breeding program. I would be fairly surprised if it still
takes 100k years.

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dbbolton
>Another option is to pick a collection of human genes that seem like they may
be relevant,

Hey, that would be cheating!

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jkyle
Gee, I wonder what those mice will be doing tonight.

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kirian
Pinky and the Brain reference.

"Pinky: Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight? Brain: The same thing we
do every night, Pinky - try to take over the world"

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_mPrhwpZ-8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_mPrhwpZ-8)

Pinky and Brain are genetically enhanced laboratory mice. In each episode,
Brain devises a new plan to take over the world which ultimately ends in
failure

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henriquemaia
It may sound weird to some, but this is the first time I learned about those
characters. I wanted to point this out in oder to stress the usefulness of the
comment I am replying to.

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bpp
Isn't this basically the plot of the movie Deep Blue Sea?

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delibes
Or this classic from my childhood
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Frisby_and_the_Rats_of_NIM...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Frisby_and_the_Rats_of_NIMH)

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tessierashpool
curious, how does this compare to the film?

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seanflyon
The book is better, more so than is normally the case. Much more depth and
nuance to the characters.

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ckluis
What are we trying to do tonight? Same thing we try and do every night Pinky…
Try to take over the world!

~~~
Mahn
Came to this thread looking for insightful, lengthy comments by people with
expertise in DNA and/or the human brain adding information to the original
article, found only references to Pinky and the brain. What is the world
coming to :)

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smorrow
To be fair, it is one of the most intelligent cartoons.

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pvaldes
typical inflammatory response trolling posted in 3, 2, 1...

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pvaldes
Ok, Maybe not just inflammation or hydrocephalous. I hate when the answers are
not so simple but I must admit that those bulging embryo eyes were freaky.

A better picture:

[http://today.duke.edu/2015/02/bigbrain](http://today.duke.edu/2015/02/bigbrain)

So a mouse injected with chimp DNA seems thinking about bananas and party in
the beach and a mouse injected with a similar gen in the homer DNA looks
pensative... interesting

