Are brains shrinking to make us smarter?

I know that in the individual level, this is true - the billions of cells and full-connection synapses are all there, and in the growing months and years, there is a necessity for much of the cells and synapses to be cut and broken: to give way to learning and strengthening the connections that retain our learning.

And it is observed in the whole human populace as well.

Read on...
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Posted: 06 February 2011

WASHINGTON: Human brains have shrunk over the past 30,000 years, puzzling scientists who argue it is not a sign we are growing dumber but that evolution is making the key motor leaner and more efficient.

The average size of modern humans -- the Homo sapiens -- has decreased about 10 percent during that period -- from 1,500 to 1,359 cubic centimetres, the size of a tennis ball.

Women's brains, which are smaller on average than those of men, have experienced an equivalent drop in size.

These measurements were taken using skulls found in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

"I'd called that a major downsizing in an evolutionary eye blink," John Hawks of the University of Michigan told Discover magazine.

But other anthropologists note that brain shrinkage is not very surprising since the stronger and larger we are, the more gray matter we need to control this larger mass.

The Neanderthal, a cousin of the modern human who disappeared about 30 millennia ago for still unknown reasons, was far more massive and had a larger brain.

The Cro-Magnons who left cave paintings of large animals in the monumental Lascaux cave over 17,000 years ago were the Homo sapiens with the biggest brain. They were also stronger than their modern descendants.

Psychology professor David Geary of the University of Missouri said these traits were necessary to survive in a hostile environment.

He has studied the evolution of skull sizes 1.9 million to 10,000 years old as our ancestors and cousins lived in an increasingly complex social environment.

Geary and his colleagues used population density as a measure of social complexity, with the hypothesis that the more humans are living closer together, the greater the exchanges between group, the division of labor and the rich and varied interactions between people.

They found that brain size decreased as population density increased.

"As complex societies emerged, the brain became smaller because people did not have to be as smart to stay alive," Geary told AFP.

But the downsizing does not mean modern humans are dumber than their ancestors -- rather, they simply developed different, more sophisticated forms of intelligence, said Brian Hare, an assistant professor of anthropology at Duke University.

He noted that the same phenomenon can be observed in domestic animals compared to their wild counterparts.

So while huskies may have smaller brains than wolves, they are smarter and more sophisticated because they can understand human communicative gestures, behaving similarly to human children.

"Even though the chimps have a larger brain (than the bonobo, the closest extant relative to humans), and even though a wolf has a much larger brain than dogs, dogs are far more sophisticated, intelligent and flexible, so intelligence is not very well linked to brain size," Hare explained.

He said humans have characteristics from both the bonobo and chimpanzee, which is more aggressive and domineering.

"The chimpanzees are violent because they want power, they try to have control and power over others while bonobos are using violence to prevent one for dominating them," Hare continued.

"Humans are both chimps and bobos in their nature and the question is how can we release more bonobo and less chimp.

"I hope bonobos win... it will be better for everyone," he added.

-AFP/ac


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:Are brains shrinking to make us smarter?

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The exotic exporters

05:55 AM Jun 19, 2009

BOGOTA - Colombia, one of the world's most biologically diverse countries, has begun selling rare animals to other countries, a type of "biocommerce" viewed with unease by environmentalists.

The fledgling exports of exotic local fauna - especially butterflies, beetles, fish and frogs - to countries like the United States, Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates is being undertaken by 1,250 small Colombian companies, according to figures kept by the state-run Export Promotion Fund.

One of these firms, Tierra Viva - whose name means "live earth" - raises beetles and sells them alive or dead.

Mr German Viasus, its manager, said that after going through lots of red tape he can now profit from the trade. "After decades in which Colombia lost unique species to illegal trafficking, and in which they were exposed to mistreatment due to the clandestine nature of the trade, companies like ours began to think about raising them and exporting them legally, which has turned out to be a good business," he said.

"We export beetles mainly to Japan ... but we've begun to receive orders from the United Arab Emirates where one of the sheikhs is a fanatic about these marvellous exemplars and made an initial order for 1,000," he added.

Alas de Colombia legally breeds and exports butterflies in Colombia. AFP

Collectors and entrepreneurs from countries of the Far East, like South Korea and China, meanwhile, buy fish from the eastern plains of Colombia through a fisherman's cooperative, Coopesca, whose manager is Mr Jose Arturo Gomez.

For every manta ray they catch in the Orotoy River, local fishermen get no more than 50 US cents (73 cents), but in the Far East they fetch more than US$80 each, Mr Gomez said.

Parallel to the above ground commerce in exotic animals is an illegal trade, which Ms Maria Sanchez, the coordinator of the Environmental Police, said is managed by a powerful international network.

In 2008 alone, the Colombian authorities confiscated 54,000 exotic animals intended for sale both inside and outside the country.

"Despite campaigns to raise awareness, rural populations continue to sell species without regard for climate, which results in many of them dying in captivity," she said. "They are bought and sold in popular markets without any kind of restraint or control." AFP

From TODAY, World – Friday, 19-Jun-2009

The exotic exporters

05:55 AM Jun 19, 2009

BOGOTA - Colombia, one of the world's most biologically diverse countries, has begun selling rare animals to other countries, a type of "biocommerce" viewed with unease by environmentalists.

The fledgling exports of exotic local fauna - especially butterflies, beetles, fish and frogs - to countries like the United States, Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates is being undertaken by 1,250 small Colombian companies, according to figures kept by the state-run Export Promotion Fund.

One of these firms, Tierra Viva - whose name means "live earth" - raises beetles and sells them alive or dead.

Mr German Viasus, its manager, said that after going through lots of red tape he can now profit from the trade. "After decades in which Colombia lost unique species to illegal trafficking, and in which they were exposed to mistreatment due to the clandestine nature of the trade, companies like ours began to think about raising them and exporting them legally, which has turned out to be a good business," he said.

"We export beetles mainly to Japan ... but we've begun to receive orders from the United Arab Emirates where one of the sheikhs is a fanatic about these marvellous exemplars and made an initial order for 1,000," he added.

Alas de Colombia legally breeds and exports butterflies in Colombia. AFP

Collectors and entrepreneurs from countries of the Far East, like South Korea and China, meanwhile, buy fish from the eastern plains of Colombia through a fisherman's cooperative, Coopesca, whose manager is Mr Jose Arturo Gomez.

For every manta ray they catch in the Orotoy River, local fishermen get no more than 50 US cents (73 cents), but in the Far East they fetch more than US$80 each, Mr Gomez said.

Parallel to the above ground commerce in exotic animals is an illegal trade, which Ms Maria Sanchez, the coordinator of the Environmental Police, said is managed by a powerful international network.

In 2008 alone, the Colombian authorities confiscated 54,000 exotic animals intended for sale both inside and outside the country.

"Despite campaigns to raise awareness, rural populations continue to sell species without regard for climate, which results in many of them dying in captivity," she said. "They are bought and sold in popular markets without any kind of restraint or control." AFP

From TODAY, World – Friday, 19-Jun-2009