May
13
/ 2021
Roughly a million years ago, Neanderthal brains doubled in size in about 200,000 years, which is a paltry number in evolutionary terms. For long, brain evolution has been credited to the increasingly sophisticated uses of stone tools. Bigger brains gave Neanderthals new advantages in game hunting, and foraging. These factors have long been known as the main reasons for bigger Neanderthal brains but the latest study on this subject has highlighted another factor in this change in brain size: carbohydrate consumption. A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), which studied the oral microbiomes and bacteria from the teeth of Neanderthals and modern humans (prior to the Agricultural Revolution 10,000 years ago), sheds new
