Maybe there is a reason for these great apes to fling things at us in the zoo through the bars of the cage. There but for the grace of Darwin go I.
As the A's, C's, G's and T's switch on an off, it's fascinating to think about the minor and major changes, environmental and otherwise that could have made things different. The stray transcription factor would make the difference. Is there such a thing as counterfactual evolution (like counterfactual history)? It is fun to think about this.
Most of the 2% differential applies to factors we would absolutely expect, such as olfaction and reproduction. Sapolsky points out a fascinating fact that what makes the human and chimpanzee brains different. A neuron in a sea slug and a neuron in a human are essentially the same. Both chemically and physiologically are the same. As he points out, the number of genes here is an issue (Sapolsky 2).
One issue Sapolsky does not even mention...
These factors, as the Zyga article point out also affect brain size (again killer whales and elephants have huge brains, but this is not the only factors in intelligence (Zyga). In addition, this author is sure that there are a lot of other factors that are intangible and as yet unknown to account for the 2% discrepancy. This should not send Jane Goodall spinning in her grave. There are just some nuances that we just do not understand yet and these reasons will fall out as the genome data that has been gathered is analyzed in the years to come. Certainly, it is the unquantifiable that will always differentiate us from the rest of the animals on this planet.
Works Cited:
Sapolsky, Robert. "The 2% Difference." Discover April 2006: 42-45.
Zyga, Lisa. "Cro Magnon Skull Shows That Our Brains Have Shrunk." Physorg.com.
Physorg.com, 15 March 2010. Web. 13 Apr 2010. .
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