The Evolution Of The Brain

One of the most astonishing things on earth is the human body. They consist of many organs that work together to maintain the person alive. The humans body composition is complex, but what was the origin? How did we become who we are today? These are the questions that intrigued me, and allowed me to understand how the human body evolved over the years. By the examination of our ancestors, and our body we will understand how we look today.

Not everyone is ready to draw such decisive conclusions about the Neanderthal mind from DNA however. John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison notes that Neanderthals may have carried gene variants that affected their brain function but that have no counterparts in modern humans for comparison. He remarks that if one were to envisage Neanderthal skin color based on the genes they share with modern humans, one would infer that they had dark skin. Yet scientists now know Neanderthals had some genes no longer in circulation that probably led to their possessing light skin. The larger problem with attempting to determine how Neanderthal brains worked from their genes, Hawks says, is that for the most part researchers do not know how genes

Paleoanthropologist discover a skeleton of an 8 year old Neanderthals boy recovered from El Sidrón cave in Spain. Based on the skeleton, Dr.Rosas and his team studied the ancient Neanderthal remains and made an analysis of how the Neanderthal’s brain is different from modern day brain. The Neanderthal people’s brain are much larger but take longer time to grow.

The development of the cortex is a delicate balance between proliferation, differentiation and migration of neural progenitors (NPs). Throughout developmental process, various cellular mechanisms ensure that NPs are differentiating into the correct cell subtypes, migrating to their correct regions, and forming the correct cortical and sub-cortical layers. The cortex is comprised of both excitatory and inhibitory neurons, which interact within neuronal circuits to mediate cortical functions. Though both types of neurons reside in the cortex, they arise from different embryonic brain regions, and from different neural progenitors. Excitatory neurons are generated from neural progenitors residing in the ventricular zone (VZ)/subventricular

There has only ever been one animal that has ever had dominion over all biodomes in the Earth. They’re all over the world, and have been since nearly the beginning of time. It seems like wherever and whenever you look, this animal is there. Please allow for the introduction of the… DRAGON!!! Dragons are seriously everywhere. But why? Why is it that nearly every culture developed the dragon individually? Well, since they’ve been around so long, it could, be argued that the dragon has been hardwired into the human mind.

This article from Scientific American gives us a look inside the human brain. The article is written by Karl Deisseroth, a professor of bioengineering and psychiatry at Stanford University. He begins by comparing the brain to a tapestry with interwoven parts. Fibers called axons spread out from the neurons carrying data to other neurons. He goes on to say if we are to know how the brain works we have to figure out how the so called tapestry is setup. This has to be done on an individual basis for each axon. We also must understand the purpose of an axon, we also have to keep in mind the brain isn’t flat like a tapestry. Therefore it is hard to get a good look at it. However, new technology has been developed that has changed that. Not only does it give us a way to look at the brain without having to physically open it, it also helps us track the various fibers as they make their through the brain.

Evolutionary theorists argue the human brain is the product of adaptation and not unique amongst other species. Suzana Herculano-Houzel argues the human brain is merely an evolved form of a prior ape brain. Through comparative research, Dr. Herculano-Houzel has revalued the number of neurons within the human brain, as well as, many other common animals. Her research has led her to draw conclusions pertaining to human evolutionary development. She suggests the human brain is not a special or unique structure, but rather the evolutionary result of cooking.

Based on the investigation on mammalian brain structure, it is believed that descent with modification was proven. The brain structure and texture of a polar bear, domestic dog (beagle) domestic guinea pig, western gorilla, two-toed sloth, platypus, one humped camel, florida manatee, 9 banded armadillo and west European hedgehog. While these brain were all different, they all had some connecting structure of texture.

To demonstrate, the evidence for evolution with embryology, Jerry Coyne uses branchial arches, and the newly discovered phenomena called lanugo. To begin with, by comparing the embryos of fish with that of a human, scientist, have discovered how similar the embryos start out, but overtime their developmental process change to their specific species. In the fish, gills are developed, and in the human part of the head and middle ear. In a word, the discovery of that humans are covered with hair during conception, gives scientist better understanding of humans during their embryonic stage of life, because it proves the connection to our apelike ancestors. Final example used by Jerry Coyne, for embryology evolution is the grasping reflex by babies,

Humans are essentially born with the three brains. It is just the case that at birth during the oral stage until the end of the first year of life, an individual’s reptilian brain and paleo-mammalian brain that are made up of basic drives and irrational urges, is stronger than the neo-mammalian brain. This is why babies would not be able to talk and would only engage in activities needed for survival such as eating, sleeping, and crying. The reptilian and paleo-mammalian brains’ equivalent in computers is the BIOS, this is due to the fact that it is the initial software that is installed in a computer when it exits a factory and contains random codes that can be compared to the basic drives that is driving children during the oral stage.

Throughout the 2,000 plus years of Western World History, it was believed that humans were the product of God’s creation and about the age of the holy bible. In the 17th century religious scholars dated Creation and Adam and Eve at around 4000 BC. Modern theology puts the estimate at between 40,000 and 100,000 years (Apologist). As the Western World moved from the dark ages, through the European Renaissance, into the age of enlightenment, and through industrial revolutions in both Great Britain and the United States; emerging scientists discovered tying origins of humans to theology which turned out to be problematic, particularly because some key scientific discoveries challenged the creationism model.

Evolution is the idea that species change over time and have a common ancestor. Which means that other species can evolve from the same animal or plant over a long period of time. Anthropology is the study of humankind and some of the different aspects to see how we evolved.

How does natural selection act as a driving force of evolution? In order to answer this question, we must first know what natural selection is and what key factors about how the theory was established. So, what is natural selection? Well, it’s simply where organisms adapt better to their environment has a higher percentage chance of surviving and producing more offspring. This theory was first discovered by Charles Darwin. Darwin was a naturalist who got with several other scientists and developed the theory of evolution. Evolution is the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed from earlier forms during the history of the Earth. In order to support the theory of evolution

Humans have a talent: they have the unique ability to manipulate almost anything organic to make it more consumable. This started when the first humans used crude stone cutting tools to cut meat off the bone of their prey (Larsen 2017). Many anthropologists recognize this ability as an extreme step in our cognitive evolution (Larsen 2017). Researchers agree that humans were hunter-gatherers at one point, but how did our brains develop the intellectual capacity for creating tools and utilizing our environment to eat more nutrient-rich food? Theories exist that meat-eating and use of fire for cooking helped expand our brains (Larsen 2017). However, what did humans eat before all of that? What nutrients allowed us to develop the skills for using fire and tools to our advantage? Many studies point towards a dietary factor of foods that are rich in fatty acids such as DHA and AA contributing to a jumpstart in our cognitive evolution without requiring a higher-level skill set (Allen 2010). Even though just like fish and shellfish, terrestrial animals provided protein and the fatty acid AA that could have contributed to human cognitive evolution, the jumpstart to our cognitive evolution was likely caused by a dietary factor of aquatic life (Allen 2010). This is because gathering aquatic life did not require any significant technological advancements, hunting for fish and shellfish was easier than competing with predators for terrestrial prey, and aquatic life, including fish and shellfish, is high in fatty acids that support essential components of developing mammalian nervous systems (Brenna and Carlson, 2014:99).

You live and you learn, from the moment that we breathe our first breath, we are assimilating and are acquiring information. Life changing and profound learning experiences happen before we can even speak, as children our learning process is grandiose. Harvard University published a series of summaries on Child development. One of these articles mentions that “The basic architecture of the brain is constructed through an ongoing process that begins before birth and continues into adulthood.” ("InBrief: The Science of Early Childhood Development," n.d.).