Humans are the most intelligent and most advanced creatures on earth in terms of brain development. Scientists have long wanted to understand the reason why the human brain is so different from other creatures, such as large replicas and chimpanzees, and now new research is providing information in this area for the first time.
Humans can do different things thanks to the large physical size of their brains. Our brain organs are larger than those of humans and chimpanzees, and the high volume of neurons makes us different from these organisms.
Researchers in a recent study published in the journal Cell developed a small sample of brain tissue in vitro and were able to tell the main difference between the brains of humans and creatures such as chimpanzees in the early stages of development.
When humans and primates are formed, their brains are made of something called neural progenitor cells or neural protozoa. These cells multiply and multiply over time, eventually forming neurons. So the more progenitor cells there are, the more neurons we end up dealing with. It is now clear that human progenitor cells behave differently from copies (anthropomorphic monkeys) and chimpanzees.
Observing such a trend, the scientists found that progenitor cells proliferate rapidly in primates for five days and then slow down. This time is much longer than animals like mice, which show their powerful and large brains, yet humans are one step higher.
This study showed that such a process takes a full week for humans. These two days mean more cell proliferation and ultimately more cells and neurons in humans.
The study’s lead author, Dr. Madeleine Lancaster, suggested that a delay in cell deformation in the early stages of the brain could lead to such a difference:
“We found that a delay in the deformation of brain cells in the early stages of brain formation was sufficient to alter the growth process. In addition, it helps determine the number of neurons produced. “It is remarkable that a relatively simple evolutionary change in the shape of the cell could have such an effect.”
Scientists have further investigated the cause of this difference in behavior between cells, which could be related to the ZEB2 gene. One noteworthy fact is that by slowing down the activity of this gene in the primary brain tissue of humans, the organoids of the brain became more like the human brain in the laboratory. So if the activity of this gene slows down the growth of the human brain, will we achieve a super-intelligent human? Unfortunately, the answer to this question is not clear at this time.