News Genetics

The ‘language gene’ didn’t give humans a big leg up in evolution

The effects of genetic tweaks to FOXP2 have been debated for years

audio wave illustration of people talking

TALKING EVOLUTION  A gene called FOXP2 was probably important for the evolution of language, but the language gene didn’t provide humans an evolutionary advantage as a species, new research suggests.

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By Tina Hesman Saey

- More than 2 years ago

Humans’ gift of gab probably wasn’t the evolutionary boon that scientists once thought.