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GENDER NEUTRAL. “Previous studies examining the prevalence of synesthesia found a significant gender gap with a 6∶1 ratio of female synesthetes to males, leading to the suggestion that synesthesia was an X-linked condition. However, prevalence studies conducted using random sampling have shown an even distribution of synesthesia among the genders, suggesting the discrepancy was based on methodological flaws and self-report biases in earlier studies.” https://lnkd.in/dfc7eju View in LinkedIn

NON CLUSTERING. “However, non-clustering forms still co-occur with greater frequency than predicted by prevalence rates in the general population, significantly impeding theories of single genetic markers and the notion of independence among different forms of the condition.” https://lnkd.in/dfc7eju View in LinkedIn

CLUSTERING. “Further, while individual synesthetes often display multiple forms of the phenomenon, large-scale factor analyses suggest that some variants co-occur with greater frequency within a single individual, suggesting that some forms are more highly related (i.e., local “clustering” or “islands” of synesthesia types), which is suggestive of a common origin.” https://lnkd.in/dfc7eju View in LinkedIn

NOT TRIVIAL IMPACT. "Their memory was about four times better. “These were whopping effects,” says Goldman. “We can say they were statistically and significantly smarter than control mice.” https://lnkd.in/d2TkhaZ View in LinkedIn

FLY-FETAL RESULTS. "Within 10 min after the cryotomy, 2 ml of a mixture of human fetal and xenogenic tissues (1000:2) was injected. Tremor and rigidity disappeared already on the operating table. After the operation, the patient was able to move and serve herself." https://lnkd.in/dtj4FWt View in LinkedIn

NUANCE. "It’s still a mouse brain, not a human brain,” says Steve Goldman of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York. “But all the non-neuronal cells are human.” https://lnkd.in/d2TkhaZ View in LinkedIn

ARBITRARY LINE. "The team decided not to try putting human cells into monkeys. “We briefly considered it but decided not to because of all the potential ethical issues,” Goldman says. Enard agrees that it could be difficult to decide which animals to put human brain cells into. “If you make animals more human-like, where do you stop?” https://lnkd.in/d2TkhaZ View in LinkedIn

TURBO-CHARGED. "This does not provide the animals with additional capabilities that could in any way be ascribed or perceived as specifically human...Rather, the human cells are simply improving the efficiency of the mouse’s own neural networks. It’s still a mouse.” https://lnkd.in/d2TkhaZ View in LinkedIn

MOUSE BRAIN FULL OF HUMAN CELLS. "This time, he injected the precursors of these cells, glial progenitor cells, which were able to divide and multiply. That, he says, explains how they were able to take over the mouse brains so completely, stopping only when they reached the physical limits of the space." https://lnkd.in/d2TkhaZ View in LinkedIn

NO GUARANTEES. "Human brain cell transplantation makes mice smart. The bold approach of grafting human brain cells into the mouse brain is enormously risky. The procedure could utterly fail. The grafted cells might not survive, or they might not insert themselves properly into brain circuitry, or they might change radically inside the strange environment of the mouse’s brain, or grow wildly and impair brain function, or perhaps even kill the mouse." https://lnkd.in/dqqJNPF View in LinkedIn