What’s Unique about Human Brain Evolution?
Even though we’ve been separated by about 450 million years of evolution, humans and zebrafish share homology in roughly 70% of their genes. Yet in spite of this commonality, few […]
Tag Archives: transcription
Specific Genetic Enhancers May Have Contributed to Larger Brains in Humans
Though humans don’t have the largest and most complex brains of the mammals (those distinctions go to the sperm whale and the elephant, respectively), the complexity of our language and […]
Brief Update: What’s New in the Field of Autism Genetics?
Unfortunately this week I’m bogged down with a lot of writing (grant, manuscript revision, etc.) and so my post is going to have to be rather short. But I wanted […]
Is Epigenetic Inheritance Actually “Genetic”?
A new study published late last month in Genome Biology entitled, “Contribution of genetic variation to transgenerational inheritance of DNA methylation” reported on what has been a controversial topic for […]
International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) 2014
From left to right: Ami Klin, Laura Klinger, Francesca Happé, and Joe Piven. My fiancé, Manny Casanova, and I just finished attending this year’s International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) […]
Is the Female Brain More Resilient against Harmful Mutations?
It has long been a topic of debate and discussion whether the lop-sided rates of autism diagnosis (males > females) reflects real gender variations in phenotype or simply diagnostic bias. […]
The Evolution of Genetic Evolvability
“The hypothesis that evolvability – the capacity to evolve by natural selection – is itself the object of natural selection is highly intriguing but remains controversial due in large part […]
In Answer to David Dobbs’ Recent Question, “Why Bother Rewriting the Genome to Evolve?”
“This raises a question: if merely reading a genome differently can change organisms so wildly, why bother rewriting the genome to evolve? How vital, really, are actual changes in the […]
Are Changes in the Epigenome Actually due to the Dynamic Nature of DNA?
I could be totally wrong on this one, which is cool. Happens often enough. And I won’t profess to be an expert in epigenetics, though I’m not completely ignorant of […]
Continuing the Debate on “Function” in Junk DNA: Rethinking the Onion Test
“From our very early days we learn to react to situations with the appropriate responses, linguistic or otherwise. The teaching procedures both shape the ‘appearance’, or ‘phenomenon’, and establish a […]
Science Over a Cuppa 
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