1. Matt Ridley
Genes, technology and the evolution of culture
Monday 13 June, 7pm

2. X
Cortisol binds to receptor; Complex
becomes transcription factor,
blocking gene expression
Stressful experience
Illness
Nervous system
Cortisol
Immune system
Genes at the mercy of experience

3. Genes
Behaviour
Nature via nurture

4. The human revolution
The sudden expansion of the brain 200,000 years ago was a
dramatic spontaneous mutation in the brain …a change in a
single gene would have been enough. Colin Blakemore 2010
I think there was a biological change — a
genetic mutation of some kind that
promoted the fully modern ability to
create and innovate. Richard Klein 2003
Genetics, changes in DNA can contribute
and can trigger cognitive/cultural
evolutionary events. Bruce Lahn 2011
The human revolution

5. Culture-gene co-evolution
Biology
Culture

6. LCT

7. Sarah Tishkoff

8. ``Milk is for babies. When
you grow up you have to
drink beer’’
Arnold Schwarzenegger

10. Tishkoff et al 2007. Nature Genetics 39: 31.
Chromosome 2

11. ``A noble countenance
framed by a white beard,
and a pair of such
expressive, sparkling blue
eyes’’
Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg

13. OCA2

14. Hans Eiberg

15. Eiberg et al. 2008. Human Genetics, 10.1007/s00439-007-0460-x.
OCA2
HERC2
rs12913832
26,039,213 A to G

16. Eiberg et al. 2008. Human Genetics, 10.1007/s00439-007-0460-x.

18. Loyau et al. 2007. Behavioral Ecology
Bright-tailed peacocks
are sexier

20. Blue-ness of eyes

21. KAYSER,M.(2008).ThreeGenome-wideAssociationStudiesandaLinkage
AnalysisIdentifyHERC2asaHumanIrisColorGene.TheAmericanJournalof
HumanGenetics

22. `Only one spot on the globe enables
economically competitive grain production
above the 55th parallel. ..Only circum-Baltic
farmers could switch to a grain diet devoid of
vitamin D, in a place where sunlight also
lacked UV. And so, the extreme of the paleness
adaptation is found only within 600 miles of
this unique spot on earth.’
Sweet, F.W. 2002. The Paleo-Etiology of Human
Skin Tone. Backintyme Essays
The spread of agriculture

23. People start
farming
cereals near
the Baltic
They get
rickets – their
diet lacks
vitamin D
Paler skinned
people are
healthier
Which is less
sensitive with
an A->G
mutation
Selecting any
low-melanin
genotype
Such as having
low tryosine in
cells
Which is made
by OCA2
One of whose
control
switches is in
HERC2
A side effect
of which is
blue eyes
They live
longer or get
more marriage
offers
Tyrosine is
transported by
P protein

24. FOXP2

25. Simon Fisher

26. I
II
III
1 2 3 4 6 7 8 9
2
11 12 13 14 16 17 18
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 19 20 21 22
5
8
10 15
10 11
23 24
1
*
* *
* *
**
**
*
Lai et al. (2001) Nature 413: 519-23
The KE family

27. N C
ZnF LeuZ FOX AcidicPoly Q
nonsense
mutation
R328X
missense
mutation
R553H
CS
translocation
breakpoint
MUTATIONS IN DISORDERS
Lai et al. (2001) Nature 413: 519-23; MacDermot et al. (2005) AJHG 76: 1074-80
FOXP2 mutations

28. +/+ R552H/R552H
frequency(kHz)
time (s)
UltrasoundAudible Click
Groszer et al. (2008) Curr Biol 18: 354-62
Slide courtesy of Prof Simon Fisher
Mouse pup vocalisations

29. Area X
Song-learningStereotactic injection
of lentivirus
Song correctly imitated?
20
Max. 100% copy success
tutorsong: pupil’s song
Haesler et al. (2007) PLoS Biol 5: e321Slide courtesy of Prof. Constance Scharff
FOXP2 knockdown in songbirds

30. 715 aaHuman
E N
Q
- T
D SN
N C
CN714 aaMouse
Q
-
NTD
716 aaChimp N C
When it comes to FOXP2 protein, a
chimpanzee is more similar to a
mouse than it is to a human….
Slide courtesy of Prof Simon Fisher
FOXP2 in primate evolution

31. Enard et al 2002. Nature 418:869
Amino-acid substitutions in the
FOXP2 protein

32. FOXP2 in Neanderthals
Krause et al 2007:
http://www.sciencedirect.
com/science/article/pii/S0
960982207020659

33. ``Scientists say they have discovered the first
gene tied to a language and speech disorder
- a find that may bring the genetics
revolution closer to identifying the biological
roots of conscious thought and defining
what it means to be human. ‘’ AP 4.10.01
``Human FOXP2 triggered changes in
genes known to affect the growth of
brain areas related to language and
also, more generally, to higher
thought.’’ BBC News, 13.11.09

34. Cause and effect

36. Opposable thumbs
Strong reciprocity
Culture
Language
Religion
Tool making
Fire and cooking
Big brains
Cognitive reasoning
Cognitive fluidity
Symbolism
Deception
Upright stance
Throwing weapons
Forward planning
Incest taboo
Art
Grandparental care
External 4th
trimester
Imitation
Extra spines on prefrontal cortex pyramidal cells
Spindle cells in anterior cingulate cortex

37. Fire
Tools
2 legs
Language
Exchange?
Chart by Nick Matzke: http://pandasthumb.org/archives/2006/09/fun-with-homini.html

38. Descent with
modification

39. • New ideas, often serendipitous
Vinyl
Cassettes
CDs
Digital
1975 1985 1995 2005
Succession and extinction

40. Variation

41. Replication

42. Competition

43. Gladyshev,Meselson, Arkhipova 2008. Massive horizontal gene transfer in
bdelloid rotifers. Science 320:1210
Recombination

45. Sexual
population
Asexual
population
Cumulative evolution requires sex

46. `Asexual culture’?
Tai Forest chimpanzee

47. ``No man ever saw a dog
make fair and deliberate
exchange of a bone with
another dog’’
Adam Smith 1776

48. Hybrid ideas

49. Reciprocity
Exchange
Exchange is NOT reciprocity

50. Comparative advantage
David Ricardo
1817
Adam takes 4 hours to make a spear and
3 hours to make an axe
Oz takes 1 hour to make a spear and 2
hours to make an axe
If Oz makes 2 spears
And Adam makes 2 axes
And they trade…
Then they each save an hour of
work

51. How long does it take to earn
an hour of reading light?
Tallow candle
1800 – 6 hrs
Kerosene lamp
1880 – 15 mins
Incandescent bulb
1950 – 8 secs
CF bulb
1997 – ½ sec
Labour cost of 1,200 lumen
hours at average US wage
Nordhaus 1997

52. Maddison, The World Economy

54. People living on less than $1* a day
Pinkovskiy and Sala-i-Martin 2009* Adjusted for inflation
``We are confronted ...
with a worsening of
poverty’’
Rio Declaration 1992

55. But are we healthier,
happier, cleverer, kinder, cleaner,
freer, more peaceful, more
equal?

56. Healthier
``US life expectancy will
drop to 42 years by the
end of the century due to
cancer epidemics.’’
Paul Ehrlich 1973

57. Happier
Pew Survey

58. Cleverer
IQ scores

59. BBC, ONS
Kinder

60. ``By 1985 air pollution
will have reduced the
amount of sunlight
reaching the earth by
half.’’
Life Magazine 1970
Cleaner

61. Freer

62. More peaceful

63. More equal
Pinkovskiy and Sala-i-Martin 2009

66. Division of labour in nature

67. Farming as a
division of
labour –
3 species
working for
each other

68. Hadza
The sexual division of labour

69. The earliest evidence of trade
Bouzougar et al. 2007. PNAS 2007 104:9964-9969; Barton et al
2009 doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.03.010.

70. The stone axes of Mt Isa
http://arts.anu.edu.au/arcworld/resources/papers/mi/ancientminers.htm

71. Neanderthal localism
http://www.eva.mpg.de/evolution/staff/hublin/pdf/Hublin_Steele_2006_CurrAnth.pdf

72. Demography and innovation
Maori fishing tackle; Kline and Boyd 2010

73. Tasmania
Henrich 2004 American Antiquity

74. Tierra del Fuego

76. The collective brain
internet traffic : the Opte Project. Licensed under Creative Commons.