• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • WordPress
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
Science Update

Science Update

Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS

  • Spotlights
  • Reality Check
  • Why Is It?
  • Radio Archives
  • Sciup @ School
Home » Radio Archive » Daily Show » Brain Folding Gene

Brain Folding Gene

June 30, 2011
https://podcast.scienceupdate.com/110630_sciup_gene.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window

BOB HIRSHON (host):

A gene that transforms our brains…I’m Bob Hirshon and this is Science Update.

Human brains aren’t the biggest in the animal kingdom, but they are the most densely folded. It’s believed that the extra surface area allows us to think in complex ways. Now, Yale University neurosurgeon Murat Gunel and his colleagues have identified a tiny part of one gene, for a protein called laminin, that plays a pivotal role in the folding. Surprisingly, the same gene’s found in mice, which have unfolded brain tissue. But in mice, the gene mainly affects blood vessels and the membrane around the brain.

MURAT GUNEL (Yale University):

They are still important for that function in humans, but also somehow we switched it to use in our brain cells as well, in neurons.

HIRSHON:

The evidence came from a rare patient who’s missing the folds in her brain’s visual center – which makes it hard for her to link images to abstract thoughts. I’m Bob Hirshon, for AAAS, the science society.

Category: Daily Show, Station DownloadTag: Brain Science
Previous Post:Rainbow Polymer
Next Post:Nature Roundup

Sidebar

Radio Program Archives

Want to learn more about the brain? The environment? Here you can browse the topics that come up regularly on Science Update.

Search the Archives

Categories

  • Daily Show
  • Station Download
  • Weekly Show

Find By Tag

  • 2020
  • Acoustics & Sound
  • Aging
  • Animal Behavior
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Astronomy & Space
  • Biology
  • Brain Science
  • Bugs
  • Chemistry
  • Children & Families
  • cicadas
  • Climate & Weather
  • Communications
  • Computer Science
  • Economics & Business
  • Education
  • Energy
  • Engineering & Technology
  • Environment & Conservation
  • Genetics & Evolution
  • Geology
  • Marine Science
  • Materials Science
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine & Health
  • Microbiology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Nutrition & Food Science
  • Paleontology & Dinosaurs
  • Physics
  • Plants & Agriculture
  • Political Science
  • Reality Check
  • Social & Behavioral Sciences
  • Sports & Fitness
  • spotlight
  • Spotlight Bugs
  • Terrorism & War
  • Why Is It? Questions
  • Wildlife
  • Year in Review

Find By Date

Science Update
  • About Science Update
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Recent Posts

Mayan Honeybee hives
House sparrow wearing top hat rides aboard a red fireworks rocket

Copyright © 2023 · Springtail Media LLC · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Pongos