Brain Development Made Humans Distinct From Neanderthals 130,000 Years Ago

According to a new study in Science, researchers identified a variation in one of the proteins in our brains that bolsters our brain progenitor cell counts. This suggests that our species makes more neurons during our development than the Neanderthals did during theirs around 130,000 to 40,000 years ago. Occurring primarily in the neocortex, our increased neural production brings scientists a step closer to understanding why our species is so distinct.