“How we end up using similar circuits is more flexible than I expected,” Zaremba said. “You can build the same circuit from different cells.”
Zaremba and her team also found that in the bird Pallium that began to develop in different regions, they can mature into the same type of neurons in adults. This drives the previous view that different regions of the embryo must produce different types of neurons.
In mammals, brain development follows an intuitive path: cells in the embryonic amygdala region at the beginning of development end in adult amygdala. Cells in the embryonic cortex eventually enter the adult cortex. But, among birds, “there is a great reorganization of the forebrain,” Gulkun said, “we didn’t expect it.”
Taken together, the study provides the clearest evidence that birds and mammals independently develop brain regions for complex cognition. They also responded to previous studies in Tosches’ lab that found that the mammalian neocortex evolved independently from reptile DVR.
Nevertheless, it seems possible to inherit from a common ancestor. In a third study using deep learning, Kempynck and his co-author Nikolai Hecker found that mice, chickens and humans share some DNA that affects the development of neocortex or DVR, suggesting that similar genetic tools are working in both types of animals. As previously shown, the team found that inhibitory neurons, or neurons that silence and regulate neural signaling, were conserved between birds and mammals.
However, these findings do not completely resolve the debate between Karten and Puelles. Whose idea is closer to the truth? Tosches said Puelles was right, and Güntürkün believes the findings better reflect Karten’s ideas, although in part because of Puelles. García-Moreno separates the differences: “They are both right; neither of them are wrong,” he said.
How to build intelligence
Smart has no instruction manual. Tosches said it was difficult to define, there were no ideal steps, and no optimal design. Whether in new genes and their regulation, or in new neuronal types, circuits, and brain regions, innovation can be made in the biology of the entire animal. However, similar innovations can be developed independently multiple times (a phenomenon known as fusion evolution), which can be seen throughout life.
“One of the reasons I kind of like these papers is that they really highlight a lot of differences,” said Bradley Colquitt, a molecular neuroscientist at UC Santa Cruz. “It allows you to say: Are there any different neural solutions for these creatures to solve similar problems in living in complex worlds and being able to adapt to rapidly changing terrestrial environments?”
Octopus and squid, independent of mammals, are similar to the camera’s eyes. Birds, bats and insects all sailed to the sky alone. Ancient people in Egypt and South America built the pyramids independently – the most effective shape in structure will stand the test of time, García-Moreno said: “If they made the tower, it would fall.
Similarly, “in vertebrates at least, you have limited freedom to generate an intelligent brain,” Tosches says. But, anyway, from our perspective, drifting from the range of vertebrates, you can generate intelligent brains in many weird ways. “It’s a wild west,” she said. For example, the octopus develops intelligence in a completely independent way. “Their cognitive structures look different from ours, except that they are constructed from the same type of cells: neurons. However, octopuses have been caught in incredible feats such as escaping aquarium tanks, solving puzzles, unscrewing the can lid and carrying shells as shields.
Colquitt said it would be exciting to figure out how octopuses evolve intelligence using truly different neural structures. In this way, it is possible to determine that all animal species are not just the absolute limits of the intelligence of vertebrates.
Zaremba said the findings may eventually reveal common characteristics of various intelligences. What is the basis for the brain that can think critically, use tools or form abstract ideas? This understanding can help find alien intelligence and help improve our artificial intelligence. For example, we are currently considering how we use evolutionary insights to improve AI very human-centric. “I really want to know if we can build like AI from the perspective of birds,” Kempynck said. “How do you think of birds? Can we imitate?”
ability Reprinted with permission Quanta Magazine, Edit independent publications Simmons Foundation Its mission is to enhance public understanding of science by covering research developments and trends in mathematics and physics and life sciences.
