Mehmet Somel

TL;DR: Re-sequencing the region around EPAS1 in 40 Tibetan and 40 Han individuals finds that this gene has a highly unusual haplotype structure that can only be convincingly explained by introgression of DNA from Denisovan or Denisovan-related individuals into humans.

TL;DR: In the striatum, a part of the basal ganglia affected in humans with a speech deficit due to a nonfunctional FOXP2 allele, it is found that medium spiny neurons have increased dendrite lengths and increased synaptic plasticity, suggesting that alterations in cortico-basal ganglia circuits might have been important for the evolution of speech and language in humans.

TL;DR: It is found that genes on the polar bear lineage have been under stronger positive selection than in brown bears; nine of the top 16 genes under strong positive selection are associated with cardiomyopathy and vascular disease, implying important reorganization of the cardiovascular system.

TL;DR: It is shown that the brain transcriptome is dramatically remodeled during postnatal development and that developmental changes in the human brain are indeed delayed relative to other primates.

TL;DR: Surprisingly, many gene expression changes previously attributed to aging, such as down-regulation of neural genes, initiate in early childhood, suggesting a direct link between developmental regulation and expression changes taking place in aging.