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Monkey Gets A Bigger Brain, Thanks To Human Gene
In a completely non-controversial study, a monkey fetus is gifted with the human gene that expands and folds the brain. This study is a collaboration between researchers in Germany at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics and in Japan at the Central Institute for Experimental Animals.
((L) monkey brain is normal, (R) enlargened human gene version)
"The very satisfying answer is that the gene did exactly everything that you could have hoped for."The results can be broken down into four sections. By inserting the gene:
(Via InterestingEngineering)
- The size of the monkeys' neocortex increased
- Folding of the brain, similar to how a human brain is folded was induced
- The relevant pro-generative cell type, which produces neurons, was increased
- Specifically, it increased upper-layer neurons, which are the neurons that increase during evolution
When I describe it as "non-controversial", I mean that of course no one has seen this film:
("To let them come to be born, in my opinion, would have been irresponsible
as a first step," lead study author Wieland Huttner mentioned,
"because you don't know what kind of behavioral change you'll get.")
So, they did abort the monkey fetus before it was born, so no harm done.
Philip K. Dick fans might have been thinking of bubbleheads, a result of E Therapy, from his 1965 novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.
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