New Straits Times
MANY among us must have read about Dolly the lamb, but have you heard of Doogie the mouse?
Doogie is actually more than a mouse, at least in terms of IQ. It learns faster, retains its memory longer and adapts to changes in its environment more readily than a normal mouse.
Doogie was genetically engineered by altering its DNA, the information code that determines the traits of individuals.
A DNA molecule termed NR2B has been found to influence the learning capacity of the brain. This gene is dubbed the "smart" gene.
The finding suggests that the genetic enhancement of mental and cognitive attributes such as intelligence and memory in mammals is viable.
Instantly it raises questions on whether we should use genetics to make people brainier.
The field of intelligence has long been under the scrutiny of philosophers, scientists and theologians. In ancient Greece dominated by Aristotle and the likes, intelligence was thought to reside in the heart.
They believed that the brain was a cooling tower for the body. Only in the first century of the Christian era did Galen begin to demystify the Greek philosophers' notion of intelligence.
Then a millennium later, the effort to determine its actual site in the brain was fuelled by Ibn Sina, the great Muslim doctor. He described intelligence as being governed by the four ventricles or cavities of the brain.
Ibn Sina's interest in human intelligence might have been motivated by the various verses of the Quran, a divine book which he memorised at a very early age.
It seems that Allah the Creator consistently emphasises on the superiority of human intelligence over that of other creatures. Verse 70 of Surah al-Israak is translated thus: "Verily we honoured the sons of Adam, provided them with transport on land and sea, given them for sustenance things good and pure, and conferred on them special favours, above a great part of our creation."
However, the Quran does not specify whether intelligence is subjective or objective, material or spiritual, physical or metaphysical. The understanding of some scholars is that intelligence is very abstract.
Thus for most part of the history of brain research, the study of intelligence, as with many other phenomena related to the mind, belonged more to the realm of psychology.
Only since 1900 or so, neuroscientists have begun the quest to link intelligence to biological processes. For instance, the intelligence of those who suffer from brain diseases can be severely damaged.
Changes in the composition of brain chemicals vital for inter-neuronal communication also affect intelligence. Thus it was concluded that part, if not all, of intelligence resides in the body rather than in the soul.
Up till the birth of Doogie the Supermouse, the link between gene and intelligence has long been proposed but never scientifically proven.
The most incendiary was perhaps the controversial study of IQ and race reported by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray in their 1994 book The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life.
The authors tried to offer proof for the alleged inferior intelligence of a minority group, compared to the more dominant "white" people.
Naturally the thesis was ripped apart almost instantaneously. Sadly, the public uproar prevented a thoroughly intellectual debate on the subject to be instituted.
The report on the birth of Doogie received a warmer reception, though.
The fact that the result is there for all to see in flesh and blood adds to its credibility.
In any case, controlled laboratory-based scientific study combined with a peer-reviewed reporting system is not easily disputed by academia, let alone by public debate.
So does the making of Doogie confirm the notion that intelligence is indeed rooted in the genes and that we can do nothing whatsoever about it?
Before we dwell further on this question, let's look at two other relatively recent contributions of neuroscience that may strongly impinge on the study of human intelligence.
These are the discoveries of the phenomena of neuroplasticity and neurogenesis. The former simply means that like plastic, nerve cells can be modified, function-wise, that is.
Neurogenesis implies that contrary to dogma, the human brain can regenerate new nerve cells in adulthood. Previously, it was thought that although a nerve cell could compensate for damage, it could not repair itself.
We shall now consider how these findings are going to affect our understanding of intelligence. For years it has been known that environment plays a major role in determining brain capability.
Animals bred in an enriched environment where they luxuriated in spacious cages and shared the company of many other rodents developed slightly larger brains and more chemicals for signal transmission.
They had extra connections between nerve cells and increased branching of neuronal projections. Moreover, they performed better on learning tests like navigating mazes.
Environmental enrichment even enhanced neurogenesis and the intelligence of very old mice, even though their rate of neuronal production was much lower than that in younger adults.
This suggests that even though the genes for intelligence might be something that we dutifully inherit from our forebears, they are definitely not static. They can be changed and definitely improved upon tremendously.
It is now also clear that a brain older than three years is not the rigid structure that scientists long described, but a malleable, plastic organ. This means that we can create or shape our brain according to the input it gets.
If we can identify how input develops the brain, then through special exercises or learning processes we might be able to mould it, including the intelligence embedded within it, according to our own needs.
New medicines may be developed to direct neurons to fulfil specific roles. We may even be able to find ways to improve or repair abnormal intelligence or diseased ones.
This essentially means that in future, we can teach old brains new tricks. Learning may never be the same again.
For example, to change the way pupils speak from a local dialect to bahasa baku, one only needs to apply a neuro-based technique that will re-wire the brain to connect oral language with the written word.
Even before understanding human intelligence fully, we are now bombarded with new and more challenging theories. Howard Gardner has come up with the concept of multiple intelligence.
All these efforts have surely enhanced our understanding of the human intelligence.
Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia
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