Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Evolution of the brain from ape to man. The evolution of the brain refers to the progressive development and complexity of neural structures over millions of years, resulting in the diverse range of brain sizes and functions observed across different species today, particularly in vertebrates.
Brain genes? There is some evidence of adaptive evolution in genes linked to brain development, but some of these genes are often associated with diseases, e.g. microcephaly (see Table 2). However, there is a particular interest in the search for adaptive evolution in brain genes, despite the ethical issues surrounding such research.
The development of the nervous system in humans, or neural development, or neurodevelopment involves the studies of embryology, developmental biology, and neuroscience. These describe the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which the complex nervous system forms in humans, develops during prenatal development, and continues to develop postnatally.
The typical human genome also contains 40,000 to 200,000 rare variants observed in less than 0.5% of the population that can only have occurred from at least one de novo germline mutation in the history of human evolution. [142] De novo mutations have also been researched as playing a crucial role in the persistence of genetic disease in humans.
Studies of the brain began during ancient Egyptian times but studies in the field of evolutionary neuroscience began after the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1859. At that time, brain evolution was largely viewed at the time in relation to the incorrect scala naturae. Phylogeny and the evolution of the brain were still ...
Since mutation rate is relatively constant, roughly one half of these changes occurred in the human lineage. Only a very tiny fraction of those fixed differences gave rise to the different phenotypes of humans and chimpanzees and finding those is a great challenge. The vast majority of the differences are neutral and do not affect the phenotype.
The second is the connection between development and evolution in the effect. Baldwin's account of how neurophysiological and conscious mental factors may contribute to the effect [20] [21] [1] brings into focus the question of the possible survival value of consciousness. [22]
A second synthesis was brought about at the end of the 20th century by advances in molecular genetics, creating the field of evolutionary developmental biology ("evo-devo"), which seeks to explain the evolution of form in terms of the genetic regulatory programs which control the development of the embryo at molecular level. Natural selection ...