It seems that there is now a way to distinguish among monkey, ape and human brain development throughout the lifetime of the individual. Published yesterday, this paper in PLOS Biology by Somel, Liu, Tang, Yan, Hu, Guo, Jiang, Zhang, Xu, Xie, Li, Hu, Chen, Pääbo and Khaitovich may contain the answer to the long-standing question of what precipitated enhanced growth of the hominid cerebellum and prefrontal cortex. A tip of the hat to Iain Davidson, whose spider senses are ALWAYS tingling. Biological anthropologists whose metier is genetics could jump in at any time to help explain for us the true implications of this ground-breaking research. But even without the help of SA readers, I’m gonna saw the limb off between me and the trunk and suggest that Iain’s right. This could be it. But then, I’m not a geneticist!

Ripped from the web here. Eternal gratitude to its creator.