Now researchers from The Rockefeller University have unearthed intriguing genetic evidence: a protein variant found only in humans that may have helped shape the emergence of spoken language.

Whether humans are singular among animals in their use of complex language remains a hot topic among scientists in many fields. Rockefeller University researchers Robert B. Darnell and Erich D. Jarvis recently made a discovery that could change the terms of that debate: The alteration of a single amino acid in a single gene may have contributed to the evolution of the more complex vocal communication found in human spoken language.