Human Brain Size and its Evolution explained by Wieland Huttner

For more Science Videos: * During the evolution of primates their brain size, and specifically the size of their cerebral cortex where the higher cognitive functions are located, expanded. Stem cells in the human brain go through a higher number of cell divisions and thus produce a higher number of neurons then do stem cells in the brains of apes. The research presented in this video investigates which evolutionary changes in the genome caused this increase in cell division. WIELAND HUTTNER describes how the research group isolated the relevant human-specific stem cells and, using a new method devised by the group, studied which genes were particularly highly expressed in those cells. * WIELAND B. HUTTNER is Director at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden and Honorary Professor of Neurobiology at Technische Universität Dresden, Germany. For further information on WIELAND HUTTNER and his research visit: