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News
- -11-23-05 Science's Best Leaders (CBS News)
"Embryonic stem cell researcher Woo Suk Hwang and the founders of Google, Inc., are among the 50 people named by Scientific American as having made the greatest contributions to science and technology in 2005." 11-05
- -12-08-05 Protein p25 Associated with Alzheimer's Disease -- and Creativity (HHMI.org)
" Researchers have found evidence that may partially exonerate a protein known to be a culprit in the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Their new studies show that the protein p25, which wreaks havoc in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease, also has a good side in promoting the plasticity of the brain." 12-05.
- Genes Suggest Brain Still Evolving (New Scientist)
"The human brain may still be evolving, new research suggests. New variants of two genes that control brain development have swept through much of the human population during the last several thousand years, biologists have found."
"Analysing variation in the gene suggests the new Microcephalin variant arose between 60,000 and 14,000 years ago, with 37,000 years ago being the team's best estimate. The new mutation is also much more common among people from Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas than those from sub-Saharan Africa."
"The team also sequenced the ASPM gene from the same original sample and again, among dozens of variants, found a defining mutation that alters the protein the gene codes for. Estimates are that the new variant of ASPM first appeared in humans somewhere between 14,000 and 500 years ago, with the best guess that it first arose 5800 years ago. It is already present in about a quarter of people alive today, and is more common in Europe and the Middle East than the rest of the world."
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