With all of the complex brain science findings out there, I really enjoyed this TED talk from neuroscientist Daniel Wolpert that goes back to one of the most fundamental questions about brains: why do we have them at all? Wolpert argues that the only reason we evolved our brains is because we had to move, [...]
Tags: brain evolution, daniel wolpert, movement and the brain, ted talks
Posted December 9, 2011 by Karen Merzenich under Evolution of the Brain
As we learn more about both the physical components of our brains and our psychological make-up, some core questions are being raised about what we believe and why. Jesse Bering just published The Belief Instinct: The Psychology of Souls, Destiny, and the Meaning of Life, a well-reviewed and provocative book about implications that stem from [...]
Tags: assumptions, beliefs, destiny, jesse bering, psychology, the belief instinct, theory of mind
Posted February 17, 2011 by Steven Aldrich under Evolution of the Brain, Neuroscience, Odds and Ends
There’s a lot of debate around the similarities and differences between humans and Neanderthals. Were Neanderthals truly a different species from humans, or a different type of the same species? Were they adaptive, cultural innovators like humans, or were they just the dumb cavemen often depicted? Their brains were big like ours… but did they [...]
Tags: brain evolution, brain function, brain shape, children, early humans, human evolution, neanderthal brain, scientific studies
Posted November 9, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Evolution of the Brain, Research studies
Person to person, the human brain varies a little in size and shape–but not dramatically so. After all, adult human skulls are all roughly the same size and shape. But what about dogs? Does a chihuahua’s tiny skull hold the same kind of brain power as all that can fit inside a mastiff’s giant noggin? [...]
Tags: brain evolution, canine brain, dog brain
Posted October 8, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Evolution of the Brain, Odds and Ends
Studying and actively listening to music develops the brain in ways that help beyond just enjoying music.
Tags: music, music therapy, musicophilia, plasticity
Posted August 18, 2010 by Steven Aldrich under Brain exercise, Evolution of the Brain, Research studies
Do you ever read about a study that’s received a million dollar grant and think, “Who would spend a million dollars to study THAT? And what kind of scientists would want to spend their time on it?” That’s what I first thought when I heard about research on sea slug brains. I couldn’t figure out [...]
Tags: Aplysia californica, brain function, Eric Kandel, Memory, scientific studies, sea slugs
Posted August 17, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Evolution of the Brain, Memory, Neuroscience, Research studies
Perhaps you’ve heard that we humans are special in the animal world because our brains are so very, very big for our size. Not true, as it turns out. Sure, they’re big compared to a bird brain or a dog brain, but in the primate world our brain size is pretty unremarkable–at least according to this [...]
Tags: brain function, craniometry, intelligence, IQ tests, neurology, science claims, scientific studies, Steven Jay Gould, The Mismeasure of Man
Posted August 4, 2010 by Marghi Merzenich under Evolution of the Brain, Neuroscience, Odds and Ends
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