"From a Songbird, New Insights Into the Brain "

- Zebra finches are a species of songbird. The male learns one song from their fathers and they repeat it throughout their entire lives.


- Scientists are studying this phenomenon to learn more about how language is developed in the human brain.

- If someone has a genetic mutation in a gene, known as FOXP2, they will have speech defects. Finches that have similar mutations in one of their genes cannot sing.

- Because of this, many scientists believe that humans and zebra finches have a similar language development processes.


-When the zebra finch listens to a song, the genes in it’s brain make several copies of the genes, which change other genes (instead of making proteins) that are involved in listening. Scientists believe this how the finches learn their song.

Reflection:


 I found this article very interesting because of the many similarities between the developmental skills and the brains of zebra finches and humans. I was better able to understand how and why the scientists think that they are so similar since we studied evolution and how we learned that everything is related and no species is really very different from each other on the genetic level. Also, I was better able to understand this article since we studied genetics and learned that all genomes of every single living thing are really very similar, no matter what they are.

 In conclusion, I would be interested in finding out if the language development part of the brain in zebra finches and humans are as similar as scientists think they may be.

Wade, Nicholas. "From a Songbird, New Insights Into the Brain." The New York Times. 5 Apr. 2010. Web. 8 Apr. 2010.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/06/science/06bird.html?partner=rss&emc=rss