Anthropology.net

As more and more of our genome becomes decoded, I think we’ll begin to see a proliferation of genes identified to unique behaviors that we have had no explanation for. Don’t believe me? Well, I have news that the gene most closely linked to left-handedness has been found.

The discovery has been published in Molecular Psychiatry, under the title, “LRRTM1 on chromosome 2p12 is a maternally suppressed gene that is associated paternally with handedness and schizophrenia.”

Paraphrased from National Geographic News:

“For right-handed people… the right side of the brain usually controls emotion, while the left side of the brain tends to control speech and language.

In left-handers—about 10 percent of the world’s population—the pattern is usually reversed.

“[And] this gene affects the symmetry of the brain,” Clyde Francks said. “LRRTM1 is not essential for left-handedness, but it can be a strong contributing factor.”"

The LRRTM1 gene was kinda inadvertently discovered during a study of a hundred families which intended on linking handedness with dyslexic children. LRRTM1 has other impacts on neurological functions, such as possible link to schizophrenia. Here’s more on the process and the impact it has to anthropology and human evolution,

“When the researchers took genetic samples from all the families involved, they noticed that a particular chromosome showed a correlation with handedness.”We then started to study the chromosome in detail and found this gene,” said Francks.

The team now intends to study the gene to try and tease out its full purpose and function.

“We need to find out what role it plays in brain development and at what point it is active, whether it is during fetal development, childhood, or adulthood,” Francks said.

Paul Corry, director of public affairs at Rethink, a U.K.-based mental health charity, says, “LRRTM1 “may turn out to be part of a complex relationship between a range of genes and environmental factors that lead to people developing schizophrenia.”

The gene could also help scientists understand more about how humans evolved.

Most animals have brains that are more symmetric, experts note, including our closest genetic relatives, the apes.“

Really quick, I wanted to announce that volume 20 of our anthropology blog carnival, the Four Stone Hearth is up over at Afarensis. He’s rounded up an impressive collection of anthropology related blogging, and from what I’ve read, I think we have all the sub disciplines represented, from linguistics to archaeology. If you’re an anthro-nerd, you’re bound to find something that peeks your interests and maybe also some new reads… I did, I found a new and excellent primatology blog called The Primate Diaries.

Afarensis has just posted the latest edition of FSH, and on this occasion it’s a mixed bag of essays and articles from here and there as Afarensis explains…

I received submissions from eight people for this edition of the Four Stone Hearth. From my perambulations around the internet, however, I knew that there were more good posts than this. So I went out and drafted some folks. As I sat at my computer trying to organize the wide variety of posts assembled for this edition it began to dawn on me that I was, perhaps, a little over ambitious. I thought about just not using some of the stuff I had found, but didn’t think that would be fair. So, fair warning this edition is not a tidy well organized edition.

What we see is the wide variety of subject matter covered by the field of anthropology in all its chaotic glory. One of the interesting things about hosting the Fourstone Hearth is that you learn about new anthropology blogs – and there are several in this edition that are new to me. So, if you have not hosted before you might consider giving it a try. You can learn more about hosting here.

Next stop for the unstoppable juggernaut that is 4SH will be at Archaeolog on August 15th, so in the meantime, thanks to Afarensis for hosting the present event. (TJ)

The latest issue of ‘Stimulus Respond’ is now available as a download, with ‘Travel’ as the theme running through it – you can get the pdf from here. This will be their last online edition, with future issues appearing in print – subscription details are available at their website. Here’s a message from editor Jack Boulton…

So, to this issue. We’ve made the last online issue something special. Look out for Vanessa Beecroft on page 047, as well as fashion from Sandra Buckland and Damn Romance. James Chance is also interviewed on page 061. The feature Defiant Exclamations has proved to be somewhat controversial, depicting as it does the Abu Ghraib stamp series by Giuseppe Di Bella.

So, thanks to everyone for your support over previous years, it’s been a pleasure.

But – we are not leaving, merely transforming. Please do continue to read, and check back at the website for special online content and the occasional surprise.

I haven’t had time to properly read through it yet, so in the meantime, my advice would be to head on over and check it out. (TJ)