Study Suggests We Have This STI to Thank For The Evolution of Grandmothers

The human immune system and gonorrhea may have had an effect on promoting healthy brain tissue.

A small boost to cognitive health in our twilight years might have made a difference in keeping grandmas around.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego are close to figuring out what evolutionary factors are responsible for living past the age of 50.

A team of researchers led by a professor of medicine discovered that humans have a unique type of immune system that protects against Alzheimer's disease.

The team found in a paper published this month that the spread of the immune variant in our species wasn't random, but rather the result of intense selection pressure.

Neanderthals and Denisovans did not have this version of immune receptors. The researchers said there was something that drove humans to develop this immune system.

The likely culprits are infectious human-specific pathogens that try to disguise themselves by dressing in the same sugar coating as human cells and fooling the immune cells into thinking thebacteria are harmless.

The human immune system was tricked into thinking that it was a human cell. The immune system was able to fight back.

The newer version of the immune receptor was able to see through the disguise and kill the invadingbacteria.

Gonorrhea can mess with human reproduction, so getting rid of it is important for the survival of the species.

There is a new version of the immunereceptor. It has been the subject of investigations by evolutionary scientists due to the way this version is changed into two different structures.

The brain immune cells, called microglia, may have co-oped with the immunereceptor to protect against aging, according to the researchers.

When cells begin to decay, the human immune system needs to attack itself.

Being able to recognize decaying brain tissue and protect cognitive function in old age is one of the benefits of the huCD33receptor.

The way for evolution to add a few more years to our lives for the sake of raising families is questionable.

The benefits of grandparents to the human species include helping to look after kids and passing on cultural knowledge. Gonorrhea might be to blame for that.

The paper was published in a scientific journal.