Competitive Brain Evolution
22 June 2009
University of Missouri researchers have examined three possible hypothesis of why the brain evolved: climate change, ecological demands and social competition. The study analyzed 153 hominid skulls and the results showed that the population density had a larger effect on the evolving brain then global climate changes and the number of parasites in the region.
“Our findings suggest brain size increases the most in areas with larger populations and this almost certainly increased the intensity of social competition,” said David Geary, Curator's Professor and Thomas Jefferson Professor of Psychosocial Sciences in the MU College of Arts and Science. “When humans had to compete for necessities and social status, which allowed better access to these necessities, bigger brains provided an advantage.”
- It is good to see that UM correctly used the word hypothesis to describe the models they were trying to research. According to the scientific method you start with a hypothesis, do experimentation, and if your repeatable experiments support your hypothesis you can then call it a theory. Unfortunately, no experiments were done that observed any brain evolution.
- No fossil is proof of evolution. Matching up skulls and putting them in a line does not prove one evolved into another. Fossils only form when a specimen is rapidly covered in mud or sediment, otherwise the bones would decompose within a few years. Fossils are good evidence that the strata they were found in was laid down by water.
- Since the strata the hominid skulls were found in were laid down by water you could never tell where the person was living. All you know is where they got buried.
- Since the strata the hominid skulls were found in were laid down by water you could never tell what the parasite count was like for that area because if the strata was exposed for longer would have more pests than strata that was buried quickly.
- Since the strata the hominid skulls were found in were laid down by water you could never tell what the environment was like when the person was living. Even with hundreds of years of research weather forecasters still can not accurately tell us what the weather will be like next week but somehow they can tell what it was like 2 million years ago?
- Necessity will never cause evolution. If you need to have a larger brain to survive and your DNA does not contain the information to grow a larger brain, then you will not survive. NO amount of outside pressure will cause a beneficial mutation that increases genetic complexity.
Adapted from materials provided by
http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2009/0622-geary-big-brain.php
