Libby Star || Issue 15 || March 5, 2025
in understanding the genetic background of how humans developed spoken language abilities. The protein in question, NOVA1, is expressed in the central nervous system of humans and mice and has been studied since the 1990s. According to the study published in Nature, a single amino acid change in the protein is unique to modern humans. This human variant of NOVA1 was substituted into baby mice using CRISPR gene-editing to test the actual effects of the unique gene. To the researchers’ surprise, the baby mice with the human variant of NOVA1 squeaked differently to their mothers than their normal counterparts. When these mice reached adulthood, they continued to call out in an abnormal way when encountering a female in heat. While other genes have been linked to our modern speech abilities, such as FOXP2 (the “human language gene”), this NOVA1 variant is unique in that no other species has been discovered to possess it, not even Neanderthals (which did have FOXP2). The gene is not the only factor giving us the ability to speak and comprehend language–that requires both specific muscles in our mouth and throat, in addition to specific areas of the brain dedicated to speech. However, the study provided striking evidence affirming the NOVA1 variant’s important role in how Homosapiens became the dominant species on Earth today.
The Hudsonian 