Un gène de la stupidité?

Knocking Out a "Dumb" Gene Boosts Memory in Mice: "

We like to think of our brain as an incredibly sophisticated thinking machine that has been fine-tuned by evolution. But recently researchers working with mice found that a tiny genetic manipulation significantly boosted brainpower with seemingly no negative consequences. People have this gene, too, and it is active in the same brain area. In other words, we may have a gene in our heads that is actively making us dumber.

Emory University pharmacologist John Hepler and his team studied a section of the hippocampus called CA2, found in both mice and humans. Although the hippocampus is crucial for memory, the neurons in CA2, oddly, fail to participate in the cellular process on which learning and memory depend: long-term potentiation, which strengthens communication between neurons that fire together.

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