• The human brain has not shrunk over the last 3000 years (or even 300,00

    From Primum Sapienti@21:1/5 to All on Sun Aug 7 23:32:44 2022
    https://phys.org/news/2022-08-human-brain-years.html

    Did the 12th century B.C.E.—a time when humans were forging great
    empires and developing new forms of written text—coincide with an evolutionary reduction in brain size? Think again, says a UNLV-led team
    of researchers who refute a hypothesis that's growing increasingly
    popular among the science community.

    Last year, a group of scientists made headlines when they concluded that
    the human brain shrank during the transition to modern urban societies
    about 3,000 years ago because, they said, our ancestors' ability to store information externally in social groups decreased our need to maintain
    large brains. Their hypothesis, which explored decades-old ideas on the evolutionary reduction of modern human brain size, was based on a
    comparison to evolutionary patterns seen in ant colonies.

    Not so fast, said UNLV anthropologist Brian Villmoare and Liverpool John
    Moores University scientist Mark Grabowski.

    In a new paper published last week in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution,
    the UNLV-led team analyzed the dataset that the research group from last
    year's study used and dismissed their findings.

    "We were struck by the implications of a substantial reduction in modern
    human brain size at roughly 3,000 years ago, during an era of many
    important innovations and historical events—the appearance of Egypt's
    New Kingdom, the development of Chinese script, the Trojan War, and
    the emergence of the Olmec civilization, among many others," Villmoare
    said.

    "We re-examined the dataset from DeSilva et al. and found that human
    brain size has not changed in 30,000 years, and probably not in 300,000
    years," Villmoare said. "In fact, based on this dataset, we can identify no reduction in brain size in modern humans over any time-period since the
    origins of our species."

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  • From DD'eDeN aka note/nickname/alas_my_l@21:1/5 to Primum Sapienti on Mon Aug 8 16:47:05 2022
    On Monday, August 8, 2022 at 1:32:46 AM UTC-4, Primum Sapienti wrote:
    https://phys.org/news/2022-08-human-brain-years.html

    Did the 12th century B.C.E.—a time when humans were forging great
    empires and developing new forms of written text—coincide with an evolutionary reduction in brain size? Think again, says a UNLV-led team
    of researchers who refute a hypothesis that's growing increasingly
    popular among the science community.

    Last year, a group of scientists made headlines when they concluded that
    the human brain shrank during the transition to modern urban societies
    about 3,000 years ago because, they said, our ancestors' ability to store information externally in social groups decreased our need to maintain
    large brains. Their hypothesis, which explored decades-old ideas on the evolutionary reduction of modern human brain size, was based on a
    comparison to evolutionary patterns seen in ant colonies.

    Not so fast, said UNLV anthropologist Brian Villmoare and Liverpool John Moores University scientist Mark Grabowski.

    In a new paper published last week in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, the UNLV-led team analyzed the dataset that the research group from last year's study used and dismissed their findings.

    "We were struck by the implications of a substantial reduction in modern human brain size at roughly 3,000 years ago, during an era of many
    important innovations and historical events—the appearance of Egypt's
    New Kingdom, the development of Chinese script, the Trojan War, and
    the emergence of the Olmec civilization, among many others," Villmoare
    said.

    "We re-examined the dataset from DeSilva et al. and found that human
    brain size has not changed in 30,000 years, and probably not in 300,000 years," Villmoare said. "In fact, based on this dataset, we can identify no reduction in brain size in modern humans over any time-period since the origins of our species."
    Thanks!

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  • From I Envy JTEM@21:1/5 to Primum Sapienti on Mon Aug 8 22:03:20 2022
    Primum Sapienti wrote:

    https://phys.org/news/2022-08-human-brain-years.html

    Did the 12th century B.C.E.—a time when humans were forging great
    empires and developing new forms of written text—coincide with an evolutionary reduction in brain size? Think again, says a UNLV-led team
    of researchers who refute a hypothesis that's growing increasingly
    popular among the science community.

    Not that you're bright, or literate, but the study they pretend to debunk didn't say that brain size shrunk. Many other studies did. No, that the
    study they pretend to debunk said is that this shrinkage was do to social changes and not a change in diet.

    "Group Decision Making."

    Last year, a group of scientists made headlines when they concluded that
    the human brain shrank during the transition to modern urban societies
    about 3,000 years ago because, they said, our ancestors' ability to store information externally in social groups decreased our need to maintain
    large brains.

    It's that last part. THAT is what the study was all about, what it was concluding. It didn't claim to find human brains had shrunk -- MANY studies
    had done that -- the study was all about determining a cause.

    THEY LINK TO THE STUDY!

    You could have just clicked on it, this study they pretended to debunk, and
    saw that the story was bullshit. You could've. At least in theory you could have.

    In a new paper published last week in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, the UNLV-led team analyzed the dataset that the research group from last year's study used and dismissed their findings.

    But then...

    "We re-examined the dataset from DeSilva et al. and found that human
    brain size has not changed in 30,000 years, and probably not in 300,000 years," Villmoare said. "In fact, based on this dataset, we can identify no reduction in brain size in modern humans over any time-period since the origins of our species."

    Here's the study, YOUR OWN CITE! Well, it's linked within your own cite:

    https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.742639/full

    Nope. They never determined that brain size had shrunk.

    THEY CITE 11 STUDIES THAT DID FIND A DECREASE IN BRAIN SIZE!

    But your idiocy doesn't claim to have debunked any of these 11, now does
    it.

    Check out THIS red flag that only a mouth breather would miss:

    : The dataset is heavily skewed because more than half of the 987 skulls
    : examined represent only the last 100 years of a 9.8-million-year span
    : of time

    So the 9.8 million year old Homo?

    It's garbage. It's idiocy. It's "Debunking" a finding that a study never even claimed to make, by making garbage up... and it fooled you!

    Tell me about this 9.8 million year old Homo. By all means, LAVISH me
    with details.

    Thanks in advance, for not having the decency to admit your errors here.

    You were fooled. Get mad at them. They made you look stupid, not us.

    Get mad at the people who did this to you, not we who noticed.






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  • From I Envy JTEM@21:1/5 to All on Mon Aug 8 22:04:15 2022
    DD'eDeN aka note/nickname/alas_my_loves wrote:

    Thanks!

    Yes, the gift of the 9.8 million year old Homo skulls... thanks, indeed.




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    https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/691966152530903040

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