Expanding the causal menu: An interventionist perspective on explaining human behavioural evolution.

Theorists of human evolution are interested in understanding major shifts in human behavioural capacities (e.g. the creation of a novel technological industry, such as the Acheulean).

Multiomics analysis identifies oxidative phosphorylation as a cancer vulnerability arising from myristoylation inhibition.

Background: In humans, two ubiquitously expressed N-myristoyltransferases, NMT1 and NMT2, catalyze myristate transfer to proteins to facilitate membrane targeting and signaling. We investigated the expression of NMTs in numerous cancers and found that NMT2 levels are dysregulated by epigenetic suppression, particularly so in hematologic malignancies. This suggests that pharmacological inhibition of the remaining NMT1 could allow for the selective killing of these cells, sparing normal cells with both NMTs.

No tinkering allowed: When the end goal requires a highly specific or risky, and complex action sequence, expect ritualistic scaffolding.

On Jagiello et al.'s cultural action framework, end-goal resolvability and causal transparency make possible the transmission of complex technologies through low-fidelity cultural learning. We offer three further features of goal-directed action sequences - specificity, riskiness, and complexity - which alter the effectiveness of low-fidelity cultural learning.