The Hypothesis About The Evolution Of Human Speech Was Refuted - Alternative View

The Hypothesis About The Evolution Of Human Speech Was Refuted - Alternative View
The Hypothesis About The Evolution Of Human Speech Was Refuted - Alternative View

Video: The Hypothesis About The Evolution Of Human Speech Was Refuted - Alternative View

Video: The Hypothesis About The Evolution Of Human Speech Was Refuted - Alternative View
Video: Hypothesis testing. Null vs alternative 2024, March
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The development of speech and language in humans was not influenced by the gene that was previously considered the main evolutionary engine for the acquisition of these skills. Scientists came to this conclusion by comparing the genetic data of modern humans and Neanderthals. The results of the study are published in the journal Cell.

The FOXP2 gene, associated with the development of speech, is believed to explain the evolutionary advantage of modern humans over Neanderthals. A study published in 2002 in the journal Nature claimed that it was the work of FOXP2 and the development of language skills that caused the spread of the human race across Africa 100,000 years ago. The authors of the new study decided to test these results against a larger genetic database.

16 years ago, scientists did not have access to the methods of genetic analysis that modern researchers have. Therefore, they were able to analyze only a small database of genetic data (obtained from only 20 people, mostly of European origin). Scientists believed that the old results need to be clarified, with special attention to be paid to the genome of immigrants from Africa.

The authors mainly used open databases on the genome of ancient and modern people (for example, the 1000 Genomes Project Consortium database, available to all). Scientists applied several statistical methods, but none of them confirmed the results of the 2002 work. It turned out that FOXP2 was also among the predecessors of modern man and was not at all our unique feature.

The authors hope that the method they used in their work will serve as a kind of template for other evolutionary research. According to them, a lot of research was conducted on an insufficiently large genetic base, mainly on data from people of the Caucasian race. Therefore, some of the facts known today about human evolution may be simply false.