Big Brains Evolved Gradually: New Study Shakes Up Human Evolution Theory
7th December 2024
A new study on human brain evolution reveals that modern humans, Neanderthals, and other recent relatives in our evolutionary lineage developed larger brains at a significantly faster rate compared to earlier species.
The study, published in the journal PNAS, overturns long-standing ideas about human brain evolution. Scientists from the University of Reading, the University of Oxford, and Durham University found that brain size increased gradually within each ancient human species rather than through sudden leaps between species.
The team assembled the largest-ever dataset of ancient human fossils spanning 7 million years and used advanced computational and statistical methods to account for gaps in the fossil record. These innovative approaches provided the most comprehensive view yet of how brain size evolved over time.