One amino acid made more neurons in the Homo sapiens brain than in a Neanderthal
Many more neurons are formed in our frontal cortex than in the brains of Neanderthals. Scientists have discovered that this is the result of a swap of just one amino acid in a protein that is activated in the brain during the prenatal period.
Do modern humans have the largest brains among human beings? It would seem to be obvious. Homo sapiens living in the 21st century have brains with an average volume of 1,350 cc. However, this is not at all a record for the genus Homo.
The first Neanderthals may have already had larger brains. In 1978, one of the first remains of Neanderthals was discovered in Germany. Fragments of an ancient skull, estimated to be 200,000 years old, were found in a gravel pit.
How was the size of the brain it housed estimated? “The researchers created a silicon mold of the skull’s interior and then submerged it in water to estimate the displacement,” write Dimitra Papagiani and Michael A. Moore in their recently published book Neanderthal Rediscovered.
“On the basis of several subsequent tests carried out with different skull variants, the average capacity was finally set at 1,430 milliliters. This is the largest brain from that period found anywhere in the world. Later Neanderthal brains grew even larger,” the…
