Study challenges evolution of FOXP2 as human-specific language gene

FOXP2, a gene implicated in affecting speech and language, is held up as a textbook example of positive selection on a human-specific trait. But in a new paper, researchers challenge this finding. Their analysis of genetic data from a diverse sample of modern people and Neanderthals saw no evidence for recent, human-specific selection of FOXP2 and revises the history of how we think humans acquired language.

from Top Health News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2n7bCmE