Scienceblogtwo

Researchers have long been motivated by the query of what distinguishes contemporary humans from earlier species. The Neanderthals, our nearest living ancestors, offer fascinating insights in this regard. The expansion of the brain and the synthesis of new neurons throughout brain development are thought to be key contributors to the evolution of higher cognitive functions in humans. Although modern humans and Neanderthals both have brains of a similar size, little is known about whether the creation of neurons in modern human and Neanderthal brains throughout development may have varied. The protein TKTL1, which differs from the Neanderthal variant only by one amino acid, is now known to increase basal radial glia, a type of brain progenitor cell, in the modern human brain, according to research from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) in Dresden. The bulk of the neurons in the growing neocortex, an area of the brain essential for many cognitive f...

According to scientists from the University of Exeter, soldiers on patrol guarding the sea are responsible for the historic graffiti of ships cut into an African fort. The mid- to late nineteenth-century engravings, which were discovered in Tanzania's Zanzibar archipelago, provide a window into the ships that plied the western Indian Ocean at the time. They were created during a time when the region served as the southernmost point of an oceanic trading network that relied on monsoon winds. Along the length of the waterfront, just outside Stone Town's Old Fort, or Gereza, ships anchored, beached, and unloaded their cargoes. The photos, though occasionally hazy, imply a variety of ship designs, including a European-style frigate or frigate-built vessel as well as a number of settee-rigged ocean going ships frequently referred to as "dhows." Some of them appear to have transom sterns, suggesting certain ship types like the baghla, ghanja, sanbq, or kotia. The prows of t...