Brain evolution by natural selection

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toru Shimizu
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Processes ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

Principles of Brain Evolution (Striedter 2005) places little emphasis on natural selection. However, one cannot fully appreciate the diversity of brains across species, nor the evolutionary processes driving such diversity, without an understanding of the effects of natural selection. Had Striedter included more extensive discussions about natural selection, his text would have been more balanced and comprehensive.

Getting Beyond the Apemen

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Lesley Newson ◽  
Peter J. Richerson
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Evolutionary Processes ◽  
Complex Information ◽  
History Of ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

This introductory chapter explains why a new story of human evolution is needed, and also lays the foundations of the story told in this book. One of the reasons we need a new story is that previous stories have concentrated on what our male ancestors were doing. Since survival is most at risk in the first years of life, it makes much more sense to concentrate on children and their mothers than on adult males. A brief account of the history of ideas in evolution by natural selection and human evolution provides readers with a background in evolutionary processes. Humans are a product of evolution, but we are not like other animals, because we are connected and readily share complex information. We are unique and our evolution was the result of a unique evolutionary process. To understand ourselves in evolutionary terms, it’s necessary to consider two intertwined evolutionary processes—genes and culture.

scholarly journals Natural selection and neutral evolutionary processes contribute to genetic divergence in leaf traits across a precipitation gradient in the tropical oakQuercus oleoides

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 2176-2192 ◽  
Author(s):  
José A. Ramírez-Valiente ◽  
Nicholas J. Deacon ◽  
Julie Etterson ◽  
Alyson Center ◽  
Jed P. Sparks ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Genetic Divergence ◽  
Leaf Traits ◽  
Precipitation Gradient ◽  
Evolutionary Processes

scholarly journals Turing Machines and Evolution. A Critique of Gregory Chaitin’s Metabiology

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-150
Author(s):  
Radosław Siedliński
Keyword(s):  
Mathematical Model ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Turing Machines ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

Abstract The aim of the paper is twofold. First, it presents the fundamental ideas and results of the “metabiology” created by Gregory Chaitin. Second, it shows why metabiology ultimately fails as a candidate for being a proper mathematical model for the theory of evolution by natural selection. Because of genocentric reductionism and biological oversimplifications, metabiology should be perceived rather as an expression of the philosophical worldview of it’s author.

Small Fish, Big Questions: Inquiry Kits for Teaching Evolution

2018 ◽  
Vol 80 (2) ◽  
pp. 124-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily A. Kane ◽  
E. Dale Broder ◽  
Andrew C. Warnock ◽  
Courtney M. Butler ◽  
A. Lynne Judish ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolution Education ◽  
Small Fish ◽  
Teaching Evolution ◽  
Local Schools ◽  
Broader Impacts ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Education And Outreach ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

Evolution education poses unique challenges because students can have preconceptions that bias their learning. Hands-on, inquiry approaches can help overcome preset beliefs held by students, but few such programs exist and teachers typically lack access to these resources. Experiential learning in the form of self-guided kits can allow evolution education programs to maximize their reach while still maintaining a high-quality resource. We created an inquiry-based kit that uses live Trinidadian guppies to teach evolution by natural selection using the VIST (Variation, Inheritance, Selection, Time) framework. Our collaborative team included evolutionary biologists and education specialists, and we were able to combine expertise in evolution research and inquiry-based kit design in the development of this program. By constructing the kits with grant funds slated for broader impacts and maintaining them at our university's Education and Outreach Center, we made these kits freely available to local schools over the long term. Students and teachers have praised how clearly the kits teach evolution by natural selection, and we are excited to share this resource with readers of The American Biology Teacher.

A Brief History of Life and Brain Evolution

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Frederick L. Coolidge
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Brain Evolution ◽  
Cognitive Differences ◽  
Behavioral Features ◽  
Survival And Reproduction ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Brain Shape ◽  
Evolutionary Fitness

This chapter reviews some of the fundamentals of evolution, particularly adaptations and exaptations. Adaptations are physical or behavioral features that through natural selection aided survival and reproduction. Exaptations are physical or behavioral features that have been co-opted from their initial adaptive functions and subsequently enhanced fitness. The reuse, recycling, or redeployment of brain neurons for purposes other than their original adaption may be considered a central organizing principle of the brain. The chapter reviews the beginnings of life and presents a timeline of life through the evolution of hominins. The term hominin refers to all current and extinct relatives and ancestors of Homo sapiens, including the australopithecines and habilines, within about the last 6 million years. The chapter introduces the hypothesis that Homo sapiens survived and flourished, instead of Neandertals, Denisovans, and other hominins, because of brain shape differences, which created cognitive differences that enhanced the evolutionary fitness of Homo sapiens.

2. Evolution and natural selection

2019 ◽  
pp. 9-26
Author(s):  
Samir Okasha
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Early 20Th Century ◽  
Philosophical Argument ◽  
Modern Biology ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Philosophical Significance ◽  
Argument From Design ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

In 1859 Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, in which he set out his theory of evolution. The book marked a turning point in our understanding of the natural world and revolutionized biology. ‘Evolution and natural selection’ outlines the theory of evolution by natural selection, explaining its unique status in biology and its philosophical significance. It considers how Darwin’s theory undermined the ‘argument from design’, a traditional philosophical argument for the existence of God; how the integration of Darwin’s theory with genetics, in the early 20th century, gave rise to neo-Darwinism; and why, despite evolutionary theory being a mainstay of modern biology, in society at large there is a marked reluctance to believe in evolution.

Linking a mutation to survival in wild mice

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 363 (6426) ◽  
pp. 499-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rowan D. H. Barrett ◽  
Stefan Laurent ◽  
Ricardo Mallarino ◽  
Susanne P. Pfeifer ◽  
Charles C. Y. Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Coat Color ◽  
Sequence Variant ◽  
Binding Properties ◽  
Wild Mice ◽  
Functional Connections ◽  
Changing Environments ◽  
Population Allele Frequency ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

Adaptive evolution in new or changing environments can be difficult to predict because the functional connections between genotype, phenotype, and fitness are complex. Here, we make these explicit connections by combining field and laboratory experiments in wild mice. We first directly estimate natural selection on pigmentation traits and an underlying pigment locus, Agouti, by using experimental enclosures of mice on different soil colors. Next, we show how a mutation in Agouti associated with survival causes lighter coat color through changes in its protein binding properties. Together, our findings demonstrate how a sequence variant alters phenotype and then reveal the ensuing ecological consequences that drive changes in population allele frequency, thereby illuminating the process of evolution by natural selection.

What the human annals tell us

1999 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 888-888 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwen J. Broude
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Reciprocal Altruism ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Mental Processes ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Cultural Data

Evidence reveals numerous cross-cultural universals regarding human mental processes and behavior. Similarly, cross-cultural data are consistent with predictions from theories of kin selection, reciprocal altruism, and sexual selection inspired by Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Thus, the “annals of human behaviour” do provide “example[s] fitting the sociobiological bill,” (Lifelines, p. 202) thereby, supporting sociobiological accounts of human behavior.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document