Of Mice, Men and Evolutionary Assumptions
The misnamed "language gene", FOXP2 (forkhead box protein P2), is essential to language development and is a factor in learning. (Since it is found in many creatures, I wonder why Basement Cat doesn't learn not to get under my wife's feet so she won't get stepped on.) Experiments with "humanized" FOXP2 in mice showed some improvement in some tests but not in others. The research helped advance scientific knowledge about how this protein (encoded by the FOXP2 gene) operates.
At this point, we move from observational science into evolutionary presuppositions. The main assumption is that evolution happened, then the assumption that humans and apes diverged from a common ancestor. The difference between humans and chips with this gene is two amino acids. (Interestingly, evolutionists only care about chimpanzees, and ignore the fact that gorillas have the same gene, but gorillas are not "closely related" to humans.) This gene is only three amino acids in difference between humans and mice. Yet somehow, evolutionary scientists are thinking that the gene mutated from the alleged divergence between humans and apes, and we are the fortunate ones. There is no evidence or models for such mutations. Such extrapolations are unjustified and ignore other possible explanations — such as how the Creator designed them that way.
We adults envy the ease with which children can learn new languages. How do they remember what all those words mean and even how to pronounce them? How babies learn to speak is equally amazing and is still not fully understood. Genetically engineered mice now offer a clue to these mysteries. Evolutionists also believe they may explain how humans evolved the gift of gab.
“The Language Gene”
The gene FOXP2 is so clearly related to speech and language that it has been dubbed “the language gene.” FOXP2 is a regulatory gene found in humans and many animals—including primates, mice, birds, and fish. About 700 amino acids long, the protein FOXP2 encodes in humans differs by only two amino acids from that of chimps and by only three from mice. Some animals with defective FOXP2 gene are rendered unable to vocalize properly.You can read the rest by clicking on "Mouse Memory Enhanced By Humanized 'Language Gene'".
Only humans, of course, have the ability to use language, and FOXP2 is necessary for normal human speech. FOXP2 regulates many other genes, so how do we know this? Several members of a Netherlands family with severe difficulty forming words properly as well as problems putting words together and understanding speech were found in 2001 to have a defective FOXP2 gene. Now mice with a humanized FOXP2 gene have revealed a likely role for FOXP2 in learning to produce and understand the spoken word.