Regeneron Pharmaceuticals is acquiring 23andMe for $256 million, gaining access to the genetic data of around 15 million customers. This raises data privacy concerns, despite assurances from Regeneron to honor existing privacy practices. The sale also brings up questions about potential compensation for customers if the data leads to profitable medications.
The article details a study suggesting that rapid shifts in gene regulation, rather than changes in protein-coding genes, likely drove the evolution of human intelligence. Researchers identified two key regulatory "saltations" – sudden changes – unique to humans that impact areas like memory, learning, social behavior, and emotional depth.
In a recent study by scientists at UC San Francisco, human accelerated regions (HARs) have been identified as crucial to the rapid evolution of human brain complexity, distinguishing us from our closest evolutionary relatives, chimpanzees. These regions, evolving 10 times faster than the typical mammalian rate, enable the formation of intricate neural networks, which support advanced cognitive functions.
A study by the University of Vienna, in collaboration with Harvard University, identifies a newly recognized Caucasus-Lower Volga (CLV) population as a key link in the history of Indo-European languages. This population contributed significantly to the Yamnaya culture and the ancestry of Bronze Age central Anatolians, including Hittite speakers. The findings suggest the CLV group as the source of the proto-Indo-Anatolian language, bridging a historical gap in Indo-European language origins.
A genetic study led by researchers from RIKEN's Center for Integrative Medical Sciences has uncovered evidence that people in Japan descend from three ancestral groups, challenging the longstanding belief that there were two main groups.
