Erren Thomas C, Cullen Paul, Erren Michael
Med Hypotheses. 2008;70(1):4-7. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2007.05.035. Epub 2007 Jul 24.
The recent sequencing of Neanderthal DNA and the release of drafts of human and chimp genomes in 2001 and 2005, respectively, provide an opportunity to better understand why our brain is different from those of extinct and living relatives. However, it is not clear that hypothesis-free analysis of genetic differences alone will shed light on the complex "big bang" evolution of human brains that is thought to have taken place about 100,000 years ago. Rather than pursuing black box genomics, we suggest that genetic analyses should be guided by hypotheses. One plausible candidate in this regard is the"fat-utilization" hypothesis proposed by the late David Horrobin.
近期尼安德特人DNA的测序，以及分别于2001年和2005年公布的人类和黑猩猩基因组草图，为更好地理解为何我们的大脑不同于已灭绝和现存的亲属提供了契机。然而，仅对基因差异进行无假设分析能否阐明约10万年前发生的人类大脑复杂的“大爆炸”式进化尚不清楚。我们建议，基因分析不应采用黑箱式基因组学方法，而应以假设为导向。在这方面，一个合理的候选假设是已故的大卫·霍罗宾提出的“脂肪利用”假说。
