The large, capable human brain is a marvel of evolution, but how it evolved from a smaller primate brain into the creative, complex organ of today is a mystery. Scientists can pinpoint 'when' our ...

Researchers reveal how gut microbes shape metabolic strategies to fuel larger brains, offering a glimpse into the evolutionary biology of primates. Putative model for microbial influences on the ...

The human brain is three times bigger than a chimp's and more spherical than a Neanderthal's. Within a maze of bumps and grooves, neurons converse in distinct patterns that give humans unique ...

Modern humans, Neanderthals, and other recent relatives on our human family tree evolved bigger brains much more rapidly than earlier species, a new study of human brain evolution has found. The study ...

What makes the human brain distinctive? A new study published in Cell identifies two genes linked to human brain features and provides a road map to discover many more. The research could lead to ...

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Octopuses and squids carry the largest nervous systems of any invertebrate, and roughly two-thirds of an octopus’s neurons ...

Researchers discovered that autism’s prevalence may be linked to human brain evolution. Specific neurons in the outer brain evolved rapidly, and autism-linked genes changed under natural selection.

A paper in Molecular Biology and Evolution finds that the relatively high rate of autism-spectrum disorders in humans is likely due to how humans evolved in the past. The paper is titled "A general ...

Humans, who are classified among the five great apes, are closest genetically, i.e., DNA similarity, to chimpanzees (98.8%-99%) and bonobos (98.8%). [Blueringmedia ...

Purkinje cells were discovered by Jan Evangelista Purkyně in 1839 and famously illustrated by Santiago Ramón y Cajal in 1899. This Ramón y Cajal drawing shows cerebellar Purkinje cells (A) and granule ...