{"id":134756,"date":"2025-10-20T21:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T21:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/134756\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T21:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T21:44:08","slug":"lead-exposure-may-have-influenced-evolution-of-human-brain-behavior-and-development-of-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/134756\/","title":{"rendered":"Lead Exposure May Have Influenced Evolution of Human Brain, Behavior, and Development of Language"},"content":{"rendered":"

Several hominids \u2014 Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus, early Homo sp., Gigantopithecus blacki, Pongo sp., Papio sp., Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens \u2014 were consistently exposed to lead over 2 million years, contradicting the idea that lead exposure is solely a modern phenomenon, according to a new analysis of fossil teeth from regions in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Europe.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Lead<\/p>\n

Lead exposure to humans in modern times versus our ancestors. Image credit: J. Gregory \/ Mount Sinai Health System.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur data show that lead exposure wasn\u2019t just a product of the Industrial Revolution \u2014 it was part of our evolutionary landscape,\u201d said Professor Renaud Joannes-Boyau, a researcher at Southern Cross University.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis means that the brains of our ancestors developed under the influence of a potent toxic metal, which may have shaped their social behavior and cognitive abilities over millennia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using precise validated laser ablation micro spatial sampling protocols, the authors analyzed 51 fossil samples from Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus, early Homo sp., Gigantopithecus blacki, Pongo sp., Papio sp., Homo neanderthalensis, and Homo sapiens.<\/p>\n

They found clear signals of episodic lead exposure in 73% of the specimens (71% for hominins Australopithecus, Paranthropus, and Homo).<\/p>\n

Some of the geologically oldest samples \u2014 Gigantopithecus blacki estimated to be from the early (1.8 million years ago) and middle Pleistocene (1 million years ago) \u2014 show repeated events of lead exposure separated by periods of negligible lead uptake.<\/p>\n

The researchers also turned to the lab to explore how this ancient exposure might have affected brain development.<\/p>\n

\"Australopithecus<\/p>\n

Australopithecus africanus. Image credit: J.M Salas \/ CC BY-SA 3.0.<\/p>\n

Using human brain organoids (miniature, lab-grown models of the brain), they compared the effects of lead on two versions of a key developmental gene called NOVA1, a gene known to orchestrate gene expression upon lead exposure during neurodevelopment.<\/p>\n

The modern human version of NOVA1 is different from that found in Neanderthals and other extinct hominids, but until now, scientists did not know why this change evolved.<\/p>\n

When organoids carrying the archaic NOVA1 variant were exposed to lead, they showed marked disruptions in the activity of FOXP2 \u2014 expressing neurons in the cortex and thalamus \u2014 brain regions that are critical for the development of speech and language.<\/p>\n

This effect was far less pronounced in organoids with the modern NOVA1 variant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese results suggest that our NOVA1 variant may have offered protection against the harmful neurological effects of lead,\u201d said University of California San Diego\u2019s Professor Alysson Muotri.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an extraordinary example of how an environmental pressure, in this case, lead toxicity, could have driven genetic changes that improved survival and our ability to communicate using language, but which now also influence our vulnerability to modern lead exposure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

An artist\u2019s impression of a group of Gigantopithecus blacki within a forest in southern China. Image credit: Garcia \/ Joannes-Boyau, Southern Cross University.<\/p>\n

Genetic and proteomic analyses in the study revealed that lead exposure in archaic-variant organoids disrupted pathways involved in neurodevelopment, social behavior, and communication.<\/p>\n

The altered FOXP2 activity in particular points to a possible link between ancient lead exposure and the evolutionary refinement of language abilities in modern humans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis study shows how our environmental exposures shaped our evolution,\u201d said Professor Manish Arora, a researcher at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the perspective of inter-species competition, the observation that toxic exposures can offer an overall survival advantage offers a fresh paradigm for environmental medicine to examine the evolutionary roots of disorders linked to environmental exposures.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study<\/a> was published in the journal Science Advances.<\/p>\n

_____<\/p>\n

Renaud Joannes-Boyau et al. 2025. Impact of intermittent lead exposure on hominid brain evolution. Science Advances 11 (42); doi: 10.1126\/sciadv.adr1524<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Several hominids \u2014 Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus, early Homo sp., Gigantopithecus blacki, Pongo sp., Papio sp., Homo neanderthalensis,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[80443,80444,159,3286,18,4696,80445,3288,3289,80446,80447,13645,3290,80448,3291,3292,3293,19,17,8659,15774,3295,80449,80450,80451,80452,79395,80453,48772,80454,133,19447],"class_list":{"0":"post-134756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-australopithecus","9":"tag-australopithecus-africanus","10":"tag-brain","11":"tag-dna","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-fossil","14":"tag-foxp2","15":"tag-gene","16":"tag-genome","17":"tag-gigantopithecus-blacki","18":"tag-hominid","19":"tag-hominin","20":"tag-homo","21":"tag-homo-erectus","22":"tag-homo-neanderthalensis","23":"tag-homo-sapiens","24":"tag-human","25":"tag-ie","26":"tag-ireland","27":"tag-language","28":"tag-lead","29":"tag-neanderthal","30":"tag-nova1","31":"tag-orangutan","32":"tag-organoid","33":"tag-papio","34":"tag-paranthropus","35":"tag-paranthropus-robustus","36":"tag-pleistocene","37":"tag-pongo","38":"tag-science","39":"tag-teeth"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}