Modern Human Brain Shape Evolved Gradually, Ushering in Modern Behavior (1 of 6) (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Modern Human Brain Shape Evolved Gradually, Ushering in Modern Behavior (1 of 6)

Caption

This GIF shows the relationship between cranial, endocranial and brain morphology. An endocast (shown in blue) is a cast of the internal surface of the bony braincase, reproducing some impressions of brain convolutions and blood vessels and capturing overall brain shape and size. Based on endocranial size and shape, it is possible to investigate brain morphology not only in this modern human, but also in extinct species for which brains are not preserved in the fossil record. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the 24 January 2018, issue of Science Advances, published by AAAS. The paper, by S. Neubauer at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and colleagues was titled, "The evolution of modern human brain shape."

Credit

[Credit: Simon Neubauer, MPI EVA Leipzig (License: CC-BY-SA 4.0)]

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