Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 24 May 2018

Study offers new look at why our brains evolved to be so big

cent came from cooperat-
ing to deal with the envi-
ronment, such as banding
together to hunt. The final
10 percent from compe-
tition between groups of
people. While the study
didn't specifically look at
the impact of cultural tasks,
it gave evidence of a sub-
stantial influence from
them, too, Gonzalez-Forero
said. He plans to assess cul-
tural factors in the future.
In any case, the results are
not intended to be the fi-
nal word, but rather an en-
couragement for other re-
searchers to use computer
simulation for studying the
question of brain size. Much
exciting work remains to be
done, he said.
Experts unconnected to
the study were skeptical of
the conclusions.
Dean Falk, a brain-evolu-
tion expert at Florida State
University, said the work
doesn't assess the long-
This 1885 photo shows a side view of a human brain. In relation to body size, our brains are huge, about six times larger than one standing hypothesis that
would expect from other mammals. the development of lan-
guage may have driven
By MALCOLM RITTER, AP social complexities of deal- plugged in data on things challenges. It found that expansion of the brain.
Science Writer ing with their peers? Or was like a newborn's brain size stronger mental demands Gonzalez-Forero said the
NEW YORK (AP) — Why it all about the challenge of and the energy costs of the tended to produce bigger language idea is to some
do people have such big learning and teaching cul- brain and reproductive or- brains. extent part of the cultural
brains? Some research- tural knowledge? gans. And they simulated Gonzalez-Forero said he factors that remain to be
ers asked a really powerful In the past, scientists have tasks that resemble the and Gardner expected a addressed.
brain — a computer — and tried to tease out an an- environmental and social strong contribution to big- Falk also said the simulation
got back a surprising an- swer mostly by analyzing challenges included in the- ger brains from social chal- strategy may have over-
swer. correlations, like how brain ories about brain evolution. lenges, which he said has emphasized the role of en-
In relation to body size, our size relates to the size of The computer pondered been the favorite idea for ergy demands in influenc-
brains are huge, about social groups in living apes how the pressures of each decades. ing brain growth.
six times larger than one and our fossil ancestors. challenge might affect But their surprise, the com- Robin Dunbar, a professor
would expect from other Mauricio Gonzalez-Forero changes of brain size over puter said about 60 per- of evolutionary psychol-
mammals. And this three- and Andy Gardner of St. time. Drawing on evolu- cent of the effect on boost- ogy at Oxford University,
pound organ sucks up fully Andrews University in Scot- tionary theory, it calcu- ing brain size came from an and paleoanthropologist
20 percent of the body's land turned instead to lated how much energy individual dealing with the Richard Potts of the Smith-
energy needs. Evolution- computer simulations. They the females would be ex- environment on one's own, sonian Institution said they
ary theory says to build and report the result in a paper pected to invest in grow- as in finding, storing and didn't think the simulation
maintain something that released Wednesday by ing the brain versus other cooking food, and making adequately mimicked the
costly, there must have the journal Nature. tissues under the different stone tools. Another 30 per- lives our ancestors lived.q
been a very good reason. The researchers created
But what is it? Did our an- a hypothetical popula-
cestors need more brain- tion of females, focusing Newest US weather satellite has
power to cope with the on just one sex for simplic-
environment, such as find- ity, and followed them as
ing and storing food? Or they faced the challenges a serious cooling problem
was it driven more by the of living. The researchers
By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aero- Wednesday. understand what went
space Writer The premier instrument on wrong and how to fix it. Of-
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. the GOES-17 satellite was ficials expect it will take at
(AP) — The nation's newest designed to take images least a few months to figure
weather satellite, launched of hurricanes, wildfires, vol- out.
less than three months ago, canic eruptions and other An identical imager on the
has a serious cooling prob- natural calamities. NOAA GOES-16 satellite, launched
lem. officials say it is not provid- in 2016, has been operating
The National Oceanic and ing proper cooling for its in- perfectly. So have similar
Atmospheric Administra- frared sensor. imagers on a pair of Japa-
tion revealed the trouble Experts are scrambling to nese weather satellites.