This article offers a succinct overview of the hypothesis that the evolution of cognition could benefit from a close examination of brain changes reflected in the shape of the neurocranium. I provide both neurological and genetic evidence in support of this hypothesis, and conclude that the study of language evolution need not be regarded as a mystery.

[t]he analysis of the phrase " how many " unambiguously leads to a definite meaning for the question [ " How many different sets of integers do their exist? " ]: the problem is to find out which one of the ‫'א‬s is the number of points of a straight line… Cantor, after having proved that this number is greater than ‫א‬ 0 , conjectured that it is ‫א‬ 1. An equivalent proposition is this: any inf...

Many studies have demonstrated that the sensory and motor systems are activated during conceptual processing. Such results have been interpreted as indicating that concepts, and important aspects of cognition more broadly, are embodied. That conclusion does not follow from the empirical evidence. The reason why is that the empirical evidence can equally be accommodated by a ‘disembodied’ view o...

Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is the result of mutations in the nuclear-encoded frataxin gene, which is expressed in mitochondria. Several lines of evidence have suggested that frataxin is involved in mitochondrial iron homeostasis. We have transfected the frataxin gene into lymphoblasts of FRDA compound heterozygotes (FRDA-CH) with deficient frataxin expression to produce FRDA-CH-t cells in which...

Chronic hypoxia (CH)-induced pulmonary hypertension is associated with decreased basal pulmonary artery endothelial cell (EC) Ca , which correlates with reduced storeoperated Ca (SOC) entry. Protein kinase C (PKC) attenuates SOC entry in ECs. Therefore, we hypothesized that PKC has a greater inhibitory effect on EC SOC and receptoroperated Ca entry after CH. To test this hypothesis, we assessed...

Nitta CH, Osmond DA, Herbert LM, Beasley BF, Resta TC, Walker BR, Jernigan NL. Role of ASIC1 in the development of chronic hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 306: H41–H52, 2014. First published November 1, 2013; doi:10.1152/ajpheart.00269.2013.—Chronic hypoxia (CH) associated with respiratory disease results in elevated pulmonary vascular intracellular Ca co...

Two studies examined the hypothesis that the evaluation of developmental stability changes across adulthood. Results of Study 1 (N = 119) supported the expectation that older adults (M age = 65.29 years)—compared to younger (M age = 23.38 years) and middle-aged adults (M age = 38.68 years)— evaluate developmental stability more positively and losses less negatively across all life domains inclu...

Rho kinase (ROCK)-dependent vasoconstriction has been implicated as a major factor in chronic hypoxia (CH)-induced pulmonary hypertension. This component of pulmonary hypertension is associated with arterial myogenicity and increased vasoreactivity to receptor-mediated agonists and depolarizing stimuli resulting from ROCK-dependent myofilament Ca(2+) sensitization. On the basis of separate line...