[extropy-chat] Human brain result of 'extraordinarily fast' evolution

[Giu1i0 Pri5c0]

The Guardian - Emergence of society may have spurred growth  - The
sophistication of the human brain is not simply the result of steady
evolution, according to new research. Instead, humans are truly
privileged animals with brains that have developed in a type of
extraordinarily fast evolution that is unique to the species.
"Simply put, evolution has been working very hard to produce us
humans," said Bruce Lahn, an assistant professor of human genetics at
the University of Chicago and an investigator at the Howard Hughes
Medical Institute.
"Our study offers the first genetic evidence that humans occupy a
unique position in the tree of life."
Professor Lahn's research, published this week in the journal Cell,
suggests that humans evolved their cognitive abilities not owing to a
few sporadic and accidental genetic mutations - as is the usual way
with traits in living things - but rather from an enormous number of
mutations in a short period of time, acquired though an intense
selection process favouring complex cognitive abilities.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1380407,00.html