This is a preview. Log in through your library . Abstract Relative brain size in the Sirenia is unusually small. Encephalization quotients are 0.27 for Florida manatees (Trichechus manatus) and 0.38 ...

The emergence of larger brains with large numbers of neurons is an evolutionary innovation in mammals and birds. However, the corresponding changes in cortical developmental programmes during amniote ...

Variation in relative brain size is commonly interpreted as the result of selection on neuronal capacity. However, this approach ignores that relative brain size is also linked to another highly ...

There’s a reason why not all species can do calculus. A new model species offers insight into why. It’s not easy being smart. Oscar Wilde once lamented: “I am so clever that sometimes I don’t ...

This illustration compares the brain sizes of a variety of primates, including humans (top left) and the fossil Chilecebus (bottom middle), based on a new method (phylogenetic encephalization quotient ...

Until Homo floresiensis was discovered, scientists assumed that the evolution of the human lineage was defined by bigger and bigger brains. Via a process called encephalization, human brains evolved ...

After taking a fresh look at an old fossil, researchers determined that the brains of the ancestors of modern neotropical primates were as small as those of their early fossil simian counterparts in ...

How did human brains get so large? The answer might lie in an unexpected place: our gut. New research from Northwestern University suggests gut microbes may have played a key role in meeting the ...

Hobbits are exceptions to the rule that older ancient humans had proportionally larger wisdom teeth and smaller brains. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images Until Homo floresiensis was discovered, ...