Competition Gets The Blame For Our Oversized Brain (Not Global Warming)

Monday, June 22, 2009 - 15:56 in Earth & Climate

Human brains have tripled in size over the past 2 million years,  growing much faster than those of other mammals. What might the reasons be for such dramatic brain expansion? University of Missouri researchers studied three hypotheses for brain growth: ecological demand,  social competition and climate change. Yes, climate change.   They're not stupid.   An entire presidential cabinet is stuffed with carbon dioxide true believers so it's good diplomacy to at least consider global warming may make us devolve - that would be terrific marketing for a carbon trading scheme.   Luckily, the much more likely social competition was determined in their analysis as the major cause of increased cranial capacity. read more

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