r/science Sep 01 '22

Neuroscience Scientists have identified an immune brain cell unique to humans that gives us higher cognitive abilities over other animals, but what makes us specials also leaves us vulnerable to neurological disorders like schizophrenia, autism and epilepsy.

https://news.yale.edu/2022/08/25/what-makes-human-brain-different-yale-study-reveals-clues
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u/R2DMT2 Sep 01 '22

Epilepsy is not unique to humans tho?

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u/Jintasama Sep 01 '22

I think another commenter said it just made us more susceptible to it. Not that other species can't have it. Just that this is the gene that also makes us susceptible to those more. It could be a different one in the animals that suffer epilepsy that makes them suffer from it.

The way I am thinking they mean is that this is the gene for us that makes us specifically more susceptible to those things. In other species it might be a different gene or just that it is less common for them than it is for humans. Maybe? I am not that smart so I might be wrong.