Science bites

Human beings are still in the middle of evolution and human language and intelligence could be brought up to a much higher level than we are at now, say scientists from the Riken Brain Science Institute in Japan. Their monkeys, in the laboratory for symbolic cognitive development, are able to imitate humans and call for a rake, which they use to reach food--something that monkeys have seemingly never done before. Atsushi Iriki, winner of the 2004 Golden Brain Award, says that these experiments tap into neural systems monkeys have always had, but have never used. He hopes that they will contribute not only to the understanding of how monkeys think, but also of how language evolved, which may ultimately help to explain the cause of human conditions such as autism. Furthermore, he points out, if monkey brains have redundant capacity, why not human brains (www.guardian.co.uk)

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