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Colin Blakemore: how the human brain got bigger by accident and not through evolution
Guardian ^ | Sunday, March 28, 2010 | Robin McKie, The Observer

Posted on 03/30/2010 7:39:45 PM PDT by SunkenCiv

According to Woody Allen, it is his second favourite organ and it absorbs more than 25% of the energy that our bodies generate. But why? For what purposes did the human brain evolve and why does it take so much of our physiological resources? Such questions have absorbed scientists for decades and have now been given an expected answer by Colin Blakemore. In a recent lecture, the Oxford neurobiologist argued that a mutation in the brain of a single human being 200,000 years ago turned intellectually able apemen into a super-intelligent species that would conquer the world. In short, Homo sapiens is a genetic accident.

Most scientists believe we achieved our intellectual status through gradual evolution. Blakemore's intervention will therefore come as a surprise and an upset, although this will not faze the provocative 66-year-old.

(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs
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1 posted on 03/30/2010 7:39:45 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
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To: decimon; JoeProBono; Daffynition; BGHater; Renfield; StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; ...

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That's right, trouble *is* my middle name. ;')

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
 

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2 posted on 03/30/2010 7:40:47 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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3 posted on 03/30/2010 7:42:51 PM PDT by SunkenCiv ("Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others." -- Otto von Bismarck)
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To: SunkenCiv
Homo sapiens is a genetic accident who in time ruined the climate by releasing carbon dioxide and water vapor.

Hmm. Yea, that's the ticket.

4 posted on 03/30/2010 7:44:38 PM PDT by oyez (The difference in genius and stupidity is that genius has it limits.)
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To: SunkenCiv

From the article: “Well, what else are they doing with their brains that used to do that kind of stuff?” I’m pretty sure that other things are being done...


Sexting?


5 posted on 03/30/2010 7:45:49 PM PDT by rbg81 (DRAIN THE SWAMP!!)
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To: SunkenCiv

The development of the large brain was not a simple accident. Studies at the University of Chicago have shown it was a complex event that occurred over a relatively short period of time. It not only required changes in size of the brain but significant changes in reproductive capabilities to accomodate larger brain size.


6 posted on 03/30/2010 7:46:08 PM PDT by Maelstorm (Confiscation of wealth with out explicit consent is not charity.)
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To: SunkenCiv

I wanna know what happened to the super-intelligent species cause they ain’t living in CA..


7 posted on 03/30/2010 7:47:57 PM PDT by GSP.FAN (These are the times that try men's souls.)
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To: SunkenCiv

maybe the only way to relieve the resultant pressure?

8 posted on 03/30/2010 8:05:16 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (fair dinkum!)
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To: GSP.FAN

LOL.

Nor anywhere where they think earning a living, growing a nest egg and taking care of your family to the extent YOU want to is “selfish” and therefore “evil” (as they do in most college faculties). I can’t think of a more stupid, idiotic, suicidal philosophy for any species to hold dear.


9 posted on 03/30/2010 8:05:34 PM PDT by FreeKeys ("The modern day Democrat Party has morphed into an unrecognizable blob of leftist insanity."- Kim P)
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To: Fred Nerks

Is that Ron Brown?


10 posted on 03/30/2010 8:05:41 PM PDT by Richard Kimball (We're all criminals. They just haven't figured out what some of us have done yet.)
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To: SunkenCiv

So how does this explain Biden? Pelosi? Reid?


11 posted on 03/30/2010 8:12:10 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Richard Kimball

Trepanned skull found in the River Thames, the previous image is from the Lima Museum.

12 posted on 03/30/2010 8:14:59 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (fair dinkum!)
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To: SunkenCiv
Thanks for the ping? Ummmmmmmmmmmmm ... I dunno.

NSFW

13 posted on 03/30/2010 8:16:41 PM PDT by Daffynition ( In the span of one man's lifetime, only the individual has any potential - not the collective.)
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To: Maelstorm
It not only required changes in size of the brain but significant changes in reproductive capabilities to accomodate larger brain size.

Yep. That's why most species are born with the ability to survive alone, or at least to be able to function independently within a year of birth. For humans, the gestation lasts for a few years after birth, because no woman would survive giving birth to a child with a fully developed brain.

14 posted on 03/30/2010 8:49:31 PM PDT by Squawk 8888 (TSA and DHS are jobs programs for people who are not smart enough to flip burgers)
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To: Fred Nerks
The scary thing about those skulls is that it appears that the bone had significant time to grow back.

I first saw an ancient trepanned skull in the 1950's at the Field Museum of Natural History. Kinda freaky.

Paleolithic psychiatry, anyways.

15 posted on 03/30/2010 8:56:37 PM PDT by Erasmus (The Last of the Bohicans)
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To: SunkenCiv

My mother-in-law is a genetic accident that could not have been prevented.


16 posted on 03/30/2010 9:00:21 PM PDT by bunkerhill7
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To: Squawk 8888
Indeed. It was a collision between the exploding cranium size and the shrinking birth canal due to the adaptation to bipedalism that causes such difficulty for human mothers.

It's as if Mother Nature allowed the two trends to continue up to the practical limit. And she didn't care how much pain a human mom went through, just so long as not too many delivering moms and their babies would die.

Momma Nature's kind of an uncaring bitch.

≤}B^)

17 posted on 03/30/2010 9:02:12 PM PDT by Erasmus (The Last of the Bohicans)
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To: SunkenCiv
Colin Blakemore: how the human brain got bigger by accident and not through evolution

...In a recent lecture, the Oxford neurobiologist argued that a mutation in the brain of a single human being 200,000 years ago turned intellectually able apemen into a super-intelligent species that would conquer the world. In short, Homo sapiens is a genetic accident.

Most scientists believe we achieved our intellectual status through gradual evolution. Blakemore's intervention will therefore come as a surprise and an upset, although this will not faze the provocative 66-year-old.

Apparently the headline writer is a genetic throwback to his smaller brained ancestors. Just because it was a genetic accident doesn't mean it wasn't evolution. In fact, the theory of evolution is that all genetic changes are random of which a few are beneficial and provide a significant increase in the chances to survive and breed, while others are detriments to survival and breeding. The first type pass their genes to their offspring while the second type are genetic dead ends who don't have offspring. Evolution does not require small changes. Some are going to be very big ones in one generation if they offspring are much, much better at survival than those who don't have the mutation.

18 posted on 03/30/2010 9:09:28 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Obamacare: The 2010 version of the Intolerable Acts.)
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To: Erasmus
trepanned skull discovered at Monte Alban:

multiple,very precise, the patient had nice teeth...

19 posted on 03/30/2010 9:20:56 PM PDT by Fred Nerks (fair dinkum!)
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To: SunkenCiv

The answers in the second paragraph. It says, “there had been a gradual increase in brain size among hominins starting three million years ago.”
That’s just about the same time we became carnivores, which led to gradual increases in brain size. So, if 200,000 years ago, a dramatic increase in brain size occurred, we must have started eating more meat. Or McDonalds opened, 137 trillion served since 200,000 BC.


20 posted on 03/30/2010 9:59:31 PM PDT by ftk1t
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