Interestingly, humans and zebra fish share at least 80 percent of the same genes. This ABC News article tells more about how the fish has become an obsession among scientists around the world.
Bad week for human ‘uniqueness’
First they demonstrated that (at least) a certain species of birds can plan for the future, and then that South American spider monkeys hug for a greeting. Both were sort of assumed to be uniquely human traits.
Today, news came that chimps use spears to hunt food (insert here a humorous picture of a chimp throwing Britney Spears on a bushbaby). Now, all those pointy things were really supposed to be what made us human, and thus different from the non-human.
So, what next? Robots that cry with you?
Really, what in the end is left of our claims of uniqueness other than the fact that we may well be the only species that has this passionate need to see ourselves as unique, and not just another part of a larger biological system?
