

Tiny Variation in One Gene May Have Led to Crucial Changes in Human Brain - espeed
http://opac.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=8559

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saulrh
Fox publishes some of the most sensationalistic science reporting I have ever
seen. The paper itself is an extremely interesting result, since it provides
some information about the folds in our brain (as Gunel is quoted as saying at
the bottom of the article), but Fox's story is an insane distortion.

First, the only thing they're reporting on is a link between changes in LAMC3
and " complex bilateral occipital cortical gyration abnormalities". They make
no mention of intelligence. In the conclusion the scientists draw parallels
between this finding and the unpredictability of other genes that work on the
same structures, with the intent of highlighting how little we understand
about the relation between genetics and neurology.

Second, the scientists identified a grand total of four individuals out of a
population of over 1000 that was already relatively at-risk. This is barely
twice the incidence of Down Syndrome, and certainly not a large enough sample
size to make any conclusions, especially about something as ill-defined as
intelligence.

Third, both of the test subjects mentioned in detail had average intelligence.
One had minor neurological issues. There is no data to support the headline or
the reporting.

[edit: I may have found this from a different source or the link may have been
changed. This post was in response to a Fox News story about the same paper,
not the Yale press release.]

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Natsu
I think they swapped the link and changed the title.

Both changes were huge improvements.

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freesciencenow
Paywalls for scientific research are evil.

Here's a copy of the paper: <http://209.20.67.195/misc/lamc3.pdf>

(See my profile for why I do what I do.)

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jforman
I am curious why they call the variation "tiny." The mutation they describe is
"the deletion of two genetic letters" — since genes are read in groups of
three, a deletion of two letters results in a completely different protein
after the site of the mutation (called a "frameshift" mutation because of this
property). It seems as if they're trying to cast the result as somehow
surprising, when it isn't (this aspect of it, at least).

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stcredzero
_These fissures expand the surface area of the cerebral cortex and allow for
complex thought and reasoning without taking up more space in the skull. Such
foldings aren’t seen in mammals such as rodents or other animals._

So, maybe this is just a gene which will enable a real life "Secret of NIMH?"

How folded are parrot brains? They've always struck me as being very smart for
their size.

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Stormbringer
folds would increase the surface area at the expense of a small amount of
volume...

Why would increasing the surface area increase intelligence? Is it to increase
the amount of contact with the surrounding medium? (Fluid?)

I thought current ideas about intelligence were about the number of
connections between neurons?

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jessedhillon
> _...the Yale School of Medicine and Turkey..._

Medicine and Turkey, that's an interesting area of study!

