A recent study: a "secret weapon" saved humans 40 million years ago
Researchers have discovered a series of genes linked to creativity that are thought to have provided Homo sapiens what distinguished them greatly from Neanderthals, which allowed them to avoid extinction.
The results of the study, published by an international research team on Wednesday in the journal Nature Molecular Psychiatry, indicated that these genes played a "fundamental role in the development of creativity, self-awareness and cooperative behavior."
Researchers wrote that these genes were a "secret weapon" that gave modern humans "a great advantage over now extinct humans by providing greater resistance to aging, wounds and disease."
These experts, led by the University of Granada in Spain, have identified 267 genes that are only available in humans, and through genetic markers, gene expression data and MRI techniques supported by artificial intelligence, they discovered that they are linked to creativity.
They added in the study that "scientists" were able to intensively identify the areas of the brain in which these genes appear (and those that interacted with them).
They noted that these areas (of the brain) participate in human self-awareness and creativity, and include areas closely related to human health that arose relatively recently.
The same team had previously identified a set of 972 genes distributed among three brain networks, the oldest of which are those related to learning habits, social attachment and conflict resolution, dating back 40 million years ago.
The second network of intentional self-control arose two million years ago, while the most recent networks, the ones governing creative self-awareness, appeared only a hundred thousand years ago.
The researchers wrote, "Thanks to these genes, Homo sapiens enjoyed a better physical condition than the currently extinct humans, which gave them a higher level of resistance to aging, wounds and diseases."
"Physical fitness, or flexibility, is an integral part of the definition of creativity," said lead author Igor Zwer.
This discovery sheds light on why Homo sapiens continued after Neanderthals and other species.
The authors of the study believed that creativity may have encouraged cooperation between individuals, and that this paved the way for technological innovation, behavioral flexibility and openness to exploration, which enabled humans to develop more successfully than their ancestors.
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