Survival Of The Fattest The Key To Human Brain Evolution

How did humans evolve larger and more sophisticated brains? Evolution, in general, depends on a special combination of circumstances: part genetics, part time, and part environment. In the case of human brain evolution, the main environmental influence was adaptation to a 'shore-based' diet, which provided the world's richest source of nutrition, as well as a sedentary lifestyle that promoted fat deposition. Such a diet included shellfish, fish, marsh plants, frogs, bird's eggs, etc. Humans, and more importantly, hominid babies started to get fat, a crucial distinction that led to the development of larger brains and to the evolution of modern humans. A larger brain is expensive to maintain and this increasing demand for energy results in, succintly, survival of the fattest.Cunnane, Stephen Cosgrave is the author of 'Survival Of The Fattest The Key To Human Brain Evolution', published 2005 under ISBN 9789812561916 and ISBN 9812561919.