The Missing Gene Project

Copyright © 2000 The Somniloquy Institute
you are free to copy and reproduce this text as long as The Somniloquy Institute is credited!

Welcome visitor!

Thank you for your interest in The Somniloquy Institute's Missing Gene Project. On this page we will explain why this project is an important scientific addition to the knowledge of mankind.
In the early spring of 1994 the widely acknowleged and beloved British biologist Thomas Beacon died, leaving his family grieving over his death, and leaving the scientific world with a collection of private notebooks in which he, in his spare time, theorized and researched the subject matter of this presentation: the presence or absence of gene D2433 on chromosome16 in humans and primates.
It wasn't until 1998 when the internationally acclaimed biology magazine Ecce Homo presented some of Beacon's theories from these notebooks, about the origins of language and human speech. This spawned the interest of The Somniloquy Institute, a new and relatively controversial organization with a keen interest in language and its implications in modern society.

And so The Missing Gene Project, an hommage to the life and work of Thomas Beacon (1927 - 1994), was born. The purpose of this project is to help the world to understand why we, the human species, can speak, while animals cannot. And how this evolutionary 'mutation' (according to Beacon) has taken place. The answer can be found in our genes: the inherited characteristics of each individual that lay on our chromosomes and form our unique inherited characteristics.
This presentation is also a call for your contribution: whith this application you will be able to test your DNA at this very moment! If you carefully follow the instructions, the result of the test will be given to you after a couple of minutes. The Somniloquy Institute developed this software (D2433scan©) to support the Missing Gene Project, and to continue the important work of Thomas Beacon. The test result will be stored in a world wide databank and if desired you can print out a copy for your own records.

We hope that you will enjoy this free service by The Somniloquy Institute. This special web presentation at the WORM.salon in Rotterdam on The Somniloquy Institute's homepage is an upbeat and functionality test for a 5-year tour and gathering of information worldwide. We thank you for your interest and cooperation.

[image] Sir Thomas Richard Beacon, two months before his tragic accident in 1994

The Notebooks from Sir Thomas Richard Beacon (1927-1994)

Beacon's private notebooks clearly visualize his discovery of the location of the human 'Word Gene' D2433. Click on the notebook to view some examples.
From his private notebooks that were released by his wife in 1996, we can clearly follow Thomas Beacon's quest in tracing the existence and the location of the gene that accounts for our ability to speak. Because he also was a keen literature fan, he found out that the author William S. Burroughs (who became a good friend of the family) 'jokingly' referred to the existence of an evolutionary mutation by a virus ("Language is a virus from outer space.").

[image] An example of a digital gene chart (Southern Blotting technique)

The notebook that is most important (from a staggering series of 254!) is number 28: where Beacon constructed the foundations for global genetic research that is still going on today. In this notebook he scribbled down the exact location of the gene D2433 (page 12, see picture); "the gene that will change the face of the earth," according to Beacon.

In later research - testing the DNA samples of relatives, friends, primates and parrots, and studying more than 1000 gene charts ('DNA fingerprints') - Beacon also detected that most humans indeed carry gene D2433: but some don't! Like in all primates, this 'Word Gene' is missing, but these people don't seem to have a problem speaking. We will elaborate on this phenomena here.

[image] Thomas Beacon's notebooks: click on the images to see more.

The Electronic Revolution by William S. Burroughs
1970 Expanded Media Editions, Published by Bresche Publikationen, Germany
excerpt contaning the origin of human speech

"My basis theory is that the written word was literally a virus that made spoken word possible. The word has not been recognized as a virus because it has achieved a state of stable symbiosis with the host..."

"It is worth noting that if a virus were to attain a state of wholly benign equilibrium with its host cell it is unlikely that its presence would be readily detected OR THAT IT WOULD NECESSARILY BE RECOGNIZED AS A VIRUS. I suggest that the word is just such a virus.
Doktor Kurt Unruh von Steinplatz has put forth an interesting theory as to the origins and history of this word virus. He postulates that the word was a virus of what he calls BIOLOGIC MUTATION effecting the biologic change in its host which was then genetically conveyed. One reason that apes can't talk is because the structure of their inner throats is simply not designed to formulate words. He postulates that alteration in inner throat structure were occasioned by virus illness ... And not occasion ...
This illness may well have had a high rate of mortality but some female apes must have survived to give birth to the wunder kindern. The illness perhaps assumed a more malignant form in the male because of his more developed and rigid muscular structure causing death through strangulation and vertebral fracture. Since the virus in both male and female precipitates sexual frenzy through irritation of sex centers in the brain the males impregnated the females in their death spasms and the altered throat structure was genetically conveyed.
Having effected alterations in the host's structure that resulted in a new species specially designed to accomodate the virus. The virus can now replicate without disturbing the metabolism and without being recognized as a virus. A symbiotic relationship has now been established and the virus is now built into the host which sees the virus as a useful part of itself. This successful virus can now sneer at gangster viruses like small pox and turn them in to The Pasteur Institute.

Ach jungen what a scene is here ... the apes are moulting fur steaming off them females whimpering and slobbering over dying males like cows with aftosa and so a stink musky sweet rotten metal stink of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden..."
[image] Was Bill joking . . .?

Are you a Man or a Monkey?
"I can walk with the animals, talk with the animals..."
Eleborations on the differences and similarities between the 'talking' species

The assertion that humans differ from animals in their use of language has been the subject of much discussion as scientists have investigated language use by non-human species. Researchers have taught apes, dolphins, and parrots various systems of human-like communication, and recently, the study of animal language and behaviour in its natural environment rather than in the laboratory has increased. But, apart from purely physical aspects, we still don't know why:
1 Most talking humans carry the Word Gene but some don't and still talk without difficulties
2 Apes and monkeys do not use a spoken word language though they are physically able
3 Parrots and other 'talking' birds lack the Word Gene and do talk

The ability to exchange information is shared by all communication systems, and a number of non-human systems share some features of human language. The fundamental difference between human and non-human communication is that animals are believed to react instinctively, in a stereotyped and predictable way. Mostly, human behaviour is under the voluntary control, and human language is creative and unpredictable.

[sound file] African Grey: "Hello!" (20k)
[sound file] Green Amazon: "Okay, see you later!" (60k)
[sound file] African Grey: "Yeah Jesus loves me, no I won't tell" (184k)
Birdsong appears to have much in common with human language. Birds have an innate system of calls, but their songs mostly involve learning and develop by later experience. Like babies experimentally babbling, young birds have a period of sub-song before their songs are fully developed, and they also appear to have a sensitive period in which they learn their songs.

The African grey parrot is the most capable imitator of human speech. Parrot Alex (studied by Irene Pepperberg) imitates human utterances and seems to relate these sounds with meanings, but his ability to imitate sounds similar to those produced by humans is quite different from the acquisition of syntax. Birds have syrinxes, which indicates that some articulated speech is possible without a larynx.

The famous and influential linguist Naom Chomsky (and close friend of Thomas Beacon!) assumes that a kind of language organ within the human mind is part of the genetic make-up. A system which makes it possible from a limited set of rules to construct an unlimited number of sentences is not found in any other species.

All social mammals learn by imitating their elders, and children also observe, imitate, and play. One can argue that babies (children under two) are not acquiring language but a protolanguage and that the preference of word order is just as much a characteristic of apes as it is of babies.

The earliest sounds of a human infant are stimulus controlled. It has a mammalian larynx that can rise, enabling concurrent breathing and eating, and not until the age of three months are its speech organs ready for producing vowels. Around the age of six months the infant begins to experiment with sounds, and soon after it begins to babble in syllables and to imitate intonation patterns. One year old it produces one-word utterances and sentence-like gibberish, and around eighteen months the first two-word utterances occur. The first utterances longer than two words consist of open-class words carrying the main message. This "telegraphic speech" is supposed to represent the grammar at that particular stage of the child's language development. Perhaps linguistic accomplishments like babbling, first words, and grammar require minimum levels of brain size, long-distance connections, and extra synapses, particularly in the language centres of the brain.
[sound file] Baby crying, 1 week old (148k)
[sound file] Baby vocalizing, 2.5 months (88k) Twinkle, twinkle...
[sound file] 18 months old (160k) Twinkle, twinkle... 23 months old (1176k)

The languages of our human ancestors of millions of years ago would not resemble the languages we speak today. In a less demanding environment they would have had no need for a complex grammar, and the ability to combine a limited number of sounds in different ways would be sufficient. Presumably, the vocabulary was not very large, and grunts and gurgles may have been used rather than modern speech sounds, e.g. gorilla pant-hoots, the expressions of solidarity between male primates, very much like the utterances of human male sporting teams.
[sound file] Gorilla, grunts and gurgles (128k)

Apes are our closest relatives in nature, and researchers have tried to teach apes to communicate with humans. The earliest experiments with gorillas showed that they were not physically capable of producing articulated speech although they did understand many spoken words. Other methods were adopted in order to avoid the problems in trying to teach apes to speak, and some of these attempts were remarkably successful!

Some apes use warnings like "angry" and "bite" without attacking, and they definitely relate sign and meaning. Also the use of language to mislead others purposely, is found. Falsity of meaning requires a creative and "dishonest" system as an instinctively induced limited set of calls is "honest". Apes are very good at social manipulation. They can interpret the behaviour and intentions of their fellows, and they can deliberately control some facial expressions and body language in order to mislead others. The ability to lie, to hide your feelings and intentions, is a very important human-like behaviour!.
[sound file] Gorilla, angry (176k)

Among themselves primates use a wide variety of communication. The meaning of primate communication depends on the social and environmental context as well as the emotional state of the animals, and their calls appear to be like complete human utterances, e.g. "you may mate with me".

Sounds like laughter and screams are controlled by the older neural (subcortical) structures in the brain, which are also responsible for the call systems of other species. Some non-human species appear to have a system of sounds which involve learning and experience, existing alongside the innate call system.
[sound file] People, scream and laughter (112k)

A simple experiment conducted by The Somniloquy Institute gives with no doubt the evidence that apes are certainly capable to talk, more or less like us. We have taken a souns recording of a newborn baby and lowered the pitch exactly 200%. After this, the sound of a grown man crying for his mummy is the first thing that springs to mind. But, when we lowered the pitch the same sound of the newborn baby with 400%, it is beyond any doubt that we can hear an ape grunt and gurgle. In this way we are able to prove that apes, who have been provided with a will and language capabilities of their own, ostentaciously have refused to speak probably since the emergence of homo sapiens! Open the sound files below to hear for yourself.
[sound file] Human newborn baby (148k)
Grown man crying = human baby 2 times lower (152k)
Ape grunting = human baby 4 times lower (142k)

According to the findings of the biologist Thomas Beacon, who studied the DNA fingerprints of more than 1000 subjects (in his spare time), most people (97,3%) carry the 'Word Gene' gene D2433. That leaves us with the phenomena of those who don't, and still are able to talk like any other human being. To find an answer, Beacon studied chromosome16 (where gene D2433 resides) in primates and 'talking' birds as well.

Since there is no proof of a so called 'Monkey Gene' in human beings (yet there is a widely spread suspicion), the only conclusion Beacon was left with until he died, was that 2.7% of human beings, who do not carry the Word Gene D2433, but who are able to talk just like you and me, must carry in their DNA, the missing link with our prehistoric ancestors.

Travel books from the nineteenth century are full of tales of primitive native tribes who used very few words, and the European travellers found it just as difficult to understand the unfamiliar sounds of these languages as zoologists find it when trying to decode the sounds of birds, whales, or primates. Alas these tribes are extinct or not yet discovered, and so it is impossible to examine their DNA and compare it with ours.

This is why The Somniloquy Institute started The Missing Gene Project. By collecting and reading thousands of DNA fingerprints from all over the world, it wants to proceed with finding the origins of human speech, generally honoring the discoveries of Thomas Beacon, and to learn more about ourselves and what makes the human being a unique-but-not-so-unique species on this planet.
[sound file] old radio recording of members of the lost 'speechless' tribe of Kanga and Telingi, Tibet 1948 (132k)

Where can we find the Word Gene?

DNA fingerprinting was first begun to be adapted for criminal investigation purposes in Brittain around 1980. Thomas Beacon's research was based on these files. DNA has been called the biological equivalent to fingerprints. It is essentially an extremely complex chemical with four sub-units (bases). These bases may combine in various proportions to form molecules called nucleotides. There are approximately 3 billion nucleotides per cell nucleus. They are all linked in a chainlike double-helix in an near-immeasurable variety of arrangements.

As with every person, each arrangement is unique, the only exception being the case of identical twins. Every cell in the body possesses this same arrangement. Different segments of the chain are responsible for different characteristics in a person's make-up, such as eye or hair colour.

One advantage to DNA typing is that DNA is not just found in blood, but anywhere white blood cells are found. Including in body fluids, skin, hair root follicles, and saliva. It is actually easiest to obtain a DNA sample, sot from blood, but from the inside of the cheek where epitherial cells are quite loose.
[image] Karyotype of a man

DNA is also surprisingly durable. Under certain conditions it can survive for thousands of years, though it deteriorates when exposed to radiation, such as sunlight. For this reason, scientists have been able to extract DNA from ancient Egyptian mummies. It also sparked the Jurassic Park scenario wherein dinosaur DNA is extracted from preserved mosquitos in order to recreate the ancient beasts.

A new technique the FBI is experimenting with, called polymerase chain reaction, allows experts to amplify and duplicate portions of the DNA chain in order to create a clear profile from a single cell. There is much more work to be done, but that is evident in every aspect of the DNA field, so much of its potential is yet to be understood. The Missing Gene Project database is just now beginning to be compiled, but even in its fledgling state it has already greatly contributed to many sciences.
[image] Karyotype of a woman [image] Over the years, Thomas Beacon's nephew and assistant became an expert in the Southern Blotting technique!
[image] An example of Beacon's many gene charts from discarded criminal investigations.
[image] An example of a gene chart of chromosome 16 of 4 kinds of parrots (A: Macaw parrot, B: African Grey, C: Blue and Green Amazon, D: Cockatoo).

Beacon believed that parrots in particular carry a gene extremely similar to the human Word Gene D2433. But, more scientific research is needed in this area.
[image] An example of a gene chart of chromosome 16 of 5 kinds of primates (A: Blue Gibbon, B: Chimpanzee, C: Gorilla, D: Orangutan, E: Vervet). In this case, the red crosses clearly show us that the Word gene D2433 is missing in primates.

The image on the right gives us a clear picture of Sir Thomas Beacon's discovery. The gene charts are from a father (F), a mother (M) and their two siblings (S1, S2). Sibling2 doesn't carry the Word Gene D2433, but has no problem with speaking. In comparison with Sibling1, there were no differences found in the intellectual and verbal developement of the child.

The only conclusion that Thomas Beacon could conjure up is that human beings are incredibly skilled copy cats. And, more enigmatic, that primates, taking into consideration the organization of their brains, CAN be taught to speak like human beings, but until now, they have refused to speak our language. For some reason our ancestors don't like us very much, at least not enough to put an effort in communicating with us with their voices.

A lot of research has to be done yet, especially on parrots and other 'talking' birds, and on all the animals in their natural environment. The Missing Gene Project by The Somniloquy Institute aims to contribute to and unravel the mystery of our speaking ability. The D2433scan© is developed to do just that. Thousands of gene charts will be stored in a giant databank and will hopefully lead to clear answers about our evolutionary process, the suggested presence of a symbiotic relationship of a 'word virus' in humans, primates and perhaps much more animals than we know of, and most of all the differences between human beings themselves, with and without carrying the Word Gene.
[image] human genes on chromosome16

Therefore we would like to invite you to have your DNA scanned at this very moment. As long as you follow the instructions carefully (especially those concerning hygiene) the test is 100% save and 100% anonymus. It will only take a couple of minutes of your time. You can enter the test here.
Thank you for you interest and your time.

The Somniloquy Institute
P.O. Box 25321 - 3001 HH Rotterdam - the Netherlands - cuckoo@xs4all.nl

D2433scan© - Information & agreement

Please read the agreement carefully. Clicking the form button below is the digital equivalent of a signature !

DNA fingerprinting has been called the body's instruction booklet, the human blueprint, the book of life - and its mapping has been called the biggest scientific leap since Neil Armstrong skipped on the lunar surface more than 30 years ago. The rough draft of the human Word Gene D2433, singled out from the 3 billion or so chemical letters in the human body's DNA, is on the way, thanks to the contributions of volunteers around the world.

The D2433scan© software is designed and developed by The Somniloquy Institute to supply The Missing Gene Project databank with scans of chromosome16< from samples donated by people from all over the world. It's aim is to archive and examine thousands of chromosome16 charts, in order to draw a precise map of the evolution of human speech. Additionally, it will also be an immense contribution to the knowledge of human psychology: people without gene D2433 seem to have more psychological and adaptational problems in their lifetime than people who do carry the gene.

PLEASE READ AND AGREE WITH THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS TO COMMENCE THE SCANNING PROCEDURE:
1) I hereby voluntarily donate a sample of my DNA for The Missing Gene Project
2) My personal information will NOT be used, sold or transferred to other parties than The Missing Gene Project
3) Only I am responsible for the result of the D2433scan© and its implications
4) I will not take legal action of any sort against The Somniloquy Institute and/or The Missing Gene Project
[button]
[image] an example of the digital D2433scan©

FAQ - Frequently asked questions about The Missing Gene Project.

1] What happens with the scanresult of my DNA sample?
The scanresult of your sample will be sent automatically to The Missing Gene Project Databank where it will be indexed by volunteers (scientists and university students).

2] Is it possible to retrieve my identity from the DNA scan?
No. We are not interested in who you are. The D2433scan© is designed to retrieve only your gender, age and country.

3] Can I ask The Missing Gene Databank to send me my scanresult in case I forgot to print it out or lost it?
No. The D2433scan© is a one time only service. Also, our voluteers are not able to retrieve information from the databank.

4] Then why do I receive a personal registration number?
We need a registration number to rubricate your contribution, and its coding system is based on the testresult, time and location.

5] Should I consult a doctor or a therapist if my scanresult is negative?
No. At this moment there is no indication that the absence of the Word Gene D2433 in your DNA can cause serious physical or psychological problems.

6] Why must I disinfect the monitor after use?
More harmful than cats, dogs and other animals, human saliva is the carrier of an immense number of bacteria and viruses that can cause serious and debilitating diseases.

7] Where can I see the results of this project?
We will tour the world with The Missing Gene Project for about 5 years to gather enough information. After that time we will publish the results in the usual science publications and on this web site. Meanwhile, you follow the temporary scanresults here. [link scanresults]

8] I have some more questions about this project, can I contact The Missing Gene Project?
Yes. You can email us (cuckoo@xs4all.nl).

Disclaimer: The Missing Gene Project by The Somniloquy Institute is presented as a free, no liabilities (no consideration, i.e. no fee) service for all interested parties. The Somniloquy Institute assumes no responsibility for any loss, damages, injury, grief, or any other harm incurred as a direct or indirect result of this web site.