Neanderthal Mini Brain ? What !

This jumped into my twitter feed and thought to share as Interesting ?
Especially the part where they may fit these mini brains to Robots ? what ! or did I really read that Ha.

Until now, researchers wanting to understand the Neanderthal brain and how it differed from our own had to study a void. The best insights into the neurology of our mysterious, extinct relatives came from analyzing the shape and volume of the spaces inside their fossilized skulls. But a recent marriage of three hot fields—ancient DNA, the genome editor CRISPR, and "organoids" built from stem cells—offers a provocative, if very preliminary, new option. At least two research teams are engineering stem cells to include Neanderthal genes and growing them into "minibrains" that reflect the influence of that ancient DNA. None of this work has been published, but Alysson Muotri, a geneticist at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, described his group's Neanderthal organoids for the first time this month at a UCSD conference called Imagination and Human Evolution. His team has coaxed stem cells endowed with Neanderthal DNA into pea-size masses that mimic the cortex, the outer layer of real brains. Compared with cortical minibrains made with typical human cells, the Neanderthal organoids have a different shape and differences in their neuronal networks, including some that may have influenced the species's ability to socialize. "We're trying to recreate Neanderthal minds," Muotri says.

Compared with brain organoids grown from ordinary human cells (top), those with a Neanderthal gene variant (bottom) differ in appearance and behavior. ALYSSON MUOTRI

Muotri has developed the modern human brain organoids to the stage where his team can detect oscillating electrical signals within the balls of tissue. They are now wiring the organoids to robots that resemble crabs, hoping the organoids will learn to control the robots' movements. Ultimately, Muotri wants to pit them against robots run by brain Neanderoids. "It's kind of wild," says Simon Fisher, a geneticist who heads the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, who famously engineered mice to have a mutated human gene linked to speech disorders. "It's creative science."

www.sciencemag.org... alminibrains-20019

carta.anthropogeny.org... ( Interesting site Indeed )

a reply to: skywatcher44

Neanderthal rights now! LoL

Interesting science all the same, could certainly answer some questions or shine some light on a species that has been extinct for the past 40,000 years.

All I could think of after reading the crab comment was this.




I, for one, welcome our new Neanderthal brained robotic crab overlords.

originally posted by: skywatcher44
]

Muotri has developed the modern human brain organoids to the stage where his team can detect oscillating electrical signals within the balls of tissue. They are now wiring the organoids to robots that resemble crabs, hoping the organoids will learn to control the robots' movements. Ultimately, Muotri wants to pit them against robots run by brain Neanderoids. "It's kind of wild," says Simon Fisher, a geneticist who heads the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, who famously engineered mice to have a mutated human gene linked to speech disorders. "It's creative science."

)

Do you want killer robo-crabs? Cuz this is how you get killer robo-crabs.

Killer robots aside, this is fascinating. The way science and tech are advancing is truly mind boggling. I'd give my left index finger to be able to truly comprehend even 10% of our recent advancements.

originally posted by: grey580
All I could think of after reading the crab comment was this.

I, for one, welcome our new Neanderthal brained robotic crab overlords.

I, for one will break out the melted butter and lemon wedges. Yum.

a reply to: skywatcher44

Interesting indeed

From your article:

Comparing them with modern human brain organoids made under identical conditions, his team found that the neuronal cells with the Neanderthalized NOVA1 migrate more quickly within an organoid as they form structures. "We think it's related to the shape of the organoid, but we have no idea what it means," says Muotri, noting that the Neanderoids have a "popcorn" shape, whereas modern human cortical organoids are spherical. The Neanderoid neurons also make fewer synaptic connections, creating what resembles an abnormal neuronal network.

Almost looks like more surface area and more area utilized by cellular mass because of the smaller, popcorn -like cells. They mention there are less synaptic connections in Neanderthalensis brain tissues and relate that to autism and abnormal structuring, but when I typed in "fewer synaptic connections" into a search, this came up:

The Yale team focused on SynCAM 1, an adhesion molecule that helps to hold synaptic junctions together. They found that when the SynCAM 1 gene was activated in mice, more synaptic connections formed. Mice without the molecule produced fewer synapses.

When we learn, new synapses can form. However, the strength of synaptic connections also changes during learning, based on the amount of stimuli received -- a quality scientists termed "plasticity." Together with a group in Germany led by Valentin Stein, the team was surprised to find that SynCAM 1 controls an important form of synaptic plasticity.

Unexpectedly, Biederer and colleagues also found that mice with high amounts of SynCAM 1 are unable to learn while mice lacking SynCAM 1 -- and having fewer synapses -- learn better. Apparently an excess of the molecule can be damaging. This builds on recent theories suggesting that having too many connections isn't always better and that the balance of synaptic activity is crucial for proper learning and memory.

www.sciencedaily.com...

Lets uh, take a second before we decide to create a Martian Neanderarmy of neandercraboids...


To add, it turns out some research is actually suggesting the opposite of what the article in the OP suggests:

A newly published brain-tissue study suggests that children affected by autism have a surplus of synapses, or connections between brain cells. The excess is due to a slowdown in the normal pruning process that occurs during brain development, the researchers say

www.autismspeaks.org...



It may be that Neanderthal brains were more efficient at what is called "synaptic pruning" which isnt too dissimilar to pruning a plant, and many people know the benefits of proper pruning!

Interesting stuff.

Clan Of The Cave Bear was a great book about a tribe of Neanderthals, it had a very intriguing premise about the Neanderthal brain and how ancestral memories were biologically passed on from mother to child. So for example the daughter of the medicine women would be born complete with all her mothers knowledge of plants and medicine, I think evolution messed up getting rid of that one lol!

a reply to: skywatcher44


I know some people who might benefit from having a pea-sized Neanderthal brain.

a reply to: grey580

I saw a crab pick I'm a sneaker once.
My son knocked over a bucket of them on our boat when he was little. It was right out of a Woody Allen movie. It's always a little scary when they take that defensive posture with their claws up in the air.

a reply to: seaswine

Wonder where they got Neanderthal DNA? Mosquitoes? LOL

originally posted by: Sillyolme
a reply to: seaswine

Wonder where they got Neanderthal DNA? Mosquitoes? LOL

Bones.

www.eva.mpg.de...

a reply to: skywatcher44

Some other interesting info on Neanderthal genetics is its prevelance in skin.

We know that a portion of caucasians have some level of neanderthal genes (1 to 4%) and to a lesser extent, Asians, due to Neanderthal migration patterns.

This however, is interesting:

For example, the Neanderthal version of the skin gene POU2F3 is found in around 66 percent of East Asians, while the Neanderthal version of BNC2, which affects skin color, among other traits, is found in 70 percent of Europeans.

A significant amount of european caucasians have the skin color gene from Neanderthals.

news.nationalgeographic.com...

Also, if you've ever noticed, Sir Patrick Stewart's skull shape is reminiscent of a neanderthal skull, and after all, he is from Great Britain.



What's more, despite being depicted as advanced apes for years, the average cranial capacity or brain size of an average male neaderthal was around 1620cc, compared to modern human males at 1330cc.

In fact the neanderthal specimen "Amud 1" has a natural cranial capacity of 1720cc and it was not due to hydroencephalus.

Amud 1