Brawny to Brainy

Creative Commons Photo of a Brain

Original Article: Brain vs. Bicepts?
Article Source: www.the-scientist.com
Published: May 29, 2014
Written by: Rina Shaikh-Lesko

Summary: A team of scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences studied the metabolomes of of five tissues in different animals. These animals included humans, chimps, rhesus, monkeys, and mice. They discovered that the metabolomes in the human prefrontal cortex were very different from those of other primates; they appear to have evolved at a much faster rate. Then, the scientists also took strength tests of the humans and primates and discovered that the chimpanzee was much stronger than the human. This led the scientists to believe that humans must have "given up" muscle strength through evolution to move more energy towards the brain. 

N.O.S. Themes:

• Science is collaborative - Many scientists worked together 
• Science is based on evidence - They conducted research and made conclusions on evidence
• Role of credibility - Research was conducted at a credible Academy
• Conflicts in science community - Other researchers commented on their conclusion claiming that they disagree with it
• Role of motivation/curiosity - The scientists researched because they were interested to see the differenced and similarities between these organism's metabolomes

Thoughts: This is an interesting conclusion to make from their research. I was also confused as to this being a new conclusion because I had heard this before, especially in history textbooks about early humans. I wonder if any further research can be done/ will be done to support or refute this conclusion. 

Post Published: May 30, 2014 (10:25 pm)
By: Julia Garbuz (hour 2)