Self-domestication

Posted on August 10, 2017 by gcochran9

I wonder if there are neural crest changes in modern humans. Perhaps in all of them, or maybe in just some ( not in Nicholas van Rijn ).

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8 Responses to Self-domestication

  1. ohwilleke says:
    August 10, 2017 at 8:21 am

    A reference to explain an otherwise cryptic post:

    Adam S. Wilkins, Richard W. Wrangham and W. Tecumseh Fitch “The “Domestication Syndrome” in Mammals: A Unified Explanation Based on Neural Crest Cell Behavior and Genetics” 197(3) GENETICS 795-808 (July 1, 2014) https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.114.165423
    http://www.genetics.org/content/197/3/795

    Reply
    • benespen says:
      August 10, 2017 at 5:12 pm

      That’s a fascinating paper. I had recently read a claim by Peter Ungar that softer diets lead to dental malocclusion, because harder chewing makes your jaw grow longer and wider, which I distrusted on the general principle that other bone structures don’t seem to work that way.

      It turns out domestication syndrome also affects jaw size, which seems like a better explanation for what Ungar is getting at.

      Reply
  2. nankoweap says:
    August 10, 2017 at 9:27 am

    Oh, this should be interesting…

    Reply
  3. dearieme says:
    August 10, 2017 at 11:05 am

    “neural crest”? They didn’t mention that when we did The Bean in nature study. Have a heart: in my day bright boys chose maths and physics not biology.

    Reply
    • gcochran9 says:
      August 10, 2017 at 11:11 am

      I’ve taken one biology course in my life, back in high school. I took it in the summer, so I wouldn’t have to dissect the frog.

      I have read some biology since then, though.

      Reply
      • dearieme says:
        August 10, 2017 at 11:16 am

        Oh I’ve read up on biology from time to time. It all makes sense then after a fortnight I’ve forgotten it again. I conclude that my interest is real but not deep; the facts and theories are acknowledged intellectually but not absorbed. It’s as if I had started to study baseball.

        Reply
      • DD'eDeN says:
        August 11, 2017 at 11:34 am

        gcochrane9 “I’ve taken one biology course in my life, back in high school.”
        OMG, now it makes sense. (Its like me & Physics.)
        Did Henry study much biology? (I only know he lived with the San for a bit, and you two wrote a book.)

        Reply
  4. genhorst says:
    August 14, 2017 at 5:22 am

    I wrote an article about that half a year ago:

    Eine Hypothese über die Entstehung der “alpinen Rasse”

    It’s in German, though.

    Reply

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