Nature apparently thinks you can use more brainpower, according to two University of Chicago studies providing the first scientific evidence that the human brain is still evolving -- a process that may increase the capacity to grow smarter.
Two key brain-building genes, which underwent dramatic changes in the past that coincided with leaps in human intellectual development, are still undergoing rapid mutations, Bruce Lahn and his University of Chicago colleagues report in today's issue of the journal Science.
The researchers found that not everyone has the genes, but that evolutionary pressures are causing them to increase at an unprecedented rate. Lahn's group is also trying to determine just how smart the genes may have made humans.
In a related headline: "Global Institute for Creationism and Intelligent Design Insists 'We're Not Getting Any Smarter'."
In a second related headline: The Ancient and Honorable Order of Mammals, Subdivision Humans, Is Proud to Announce that Its Six Hundred Thousand and First Annual Convention Will Be Held at the Sheraton in New Orleans.
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