Big brain evolver found, according to Nature Communications doi:10.1038/ncomms2146, and ScienceDaily 14 November 2012, who report “An international team of researchers have discovered a new gene that helps explain how humans evolved from chimpanzees”. The gene is named miR-941 and is found in humans, but not in apes. The gene codes for a micro-RNA – a small sequences of RNA that regulates other genes. This gene was found to be active in brain cells and affects genes involved in chemical signalling between nerve cells. Martin Taylor of the University of Edinburgh, who led the study, commented: “As a species, humans are wonderfully inventive – we are socially and technologically evolving all the time. But this research shows that we are innovating at a genetic level too. This new molecule sprang from nowhere at a time when our species was undergoing dramatic changes: living longer, walking upright, learning how to use tools and how to communicate. We’re now hopeful that we will find more new genes that help show what makes us human”.
Editorial Comment: So “this new molecule sprang from nowhere” eh? Let’s undress the facts from the emperor’s ever evolving clothes. What was actually found – a MicroRNA gene not found in any creature apart from man, who is the only creature with brains big enough to appreciate the find and the only one to bother to look for such things and ask questions about it. What it may prove: humans need this gene for our brains to function and apes don’t. What it doesn’t prove: The fact that this gene is found in humans but not apes does not explain how man evolved from chimpanzees, particularly if you resort to the ‘sprang from nowhere’ thesis. MicroRNA genes are often found in regions of the human genome that were once written off as “junk DNA” because they do not code for proteins. However, as a recent project that analysed the human genome found, most of “junk” is actually functional, with much of the junk DNA discovered to be coding for switches and regulators for other genes, just like this newly discovered unique human gene seems to be. See our report on the ENCODE Project here.
We predict that as geneticists study these micro-RNAs they will find more genes that are uniquely human, just as Martin Taylor hopes. However such gene finds will never explain how human beings came into existence, nor explain all the differences between humans and animals. Genetics will only explain how our bodies differ from those of the monkeys, apes etc. The most significant difference between animals and humans is that we are created in the image of God who is a Spirit, and animals are not.
Final Faith Fact: Martin Taylor’s comment exposes the empty faith of evolutionists who believe genes can spring from nowhere, or that somehow humans forced the invention of their own genes by learning to walk, talk and use tools. In addition Taylor’s comment betrays up the dramatic difference between IQ, PhD’s and wisdom yet again. IQ you are born with. PhD’s come from universities. Wisdom comes only from the God who created all things, and the fear of God truly is the beginning of such wisdom. (Ref. neurology, genetics, anthropology, prediction)
Evidence News 21 November 2012