evolution, brain, neuroscience

Impressions that ancient brains left in fossilized skulls reveal that the first human ancestors to migrate out of Africa had much more primitive brains than previously thought.

The animals kill off around one-quarter of the neurons in their somatosensory cortex, perhaps to save energy, and the cells appear to return the following summer.

The brain wiring behind scent processing seems to scale across mammalian species.

An analysis of the contours of more than 600 kids’ brains points to links between cerebral surface area and heritability in regions of the brain important in cognition.  

Ecological challenges such as finding food and creating fire may have led the organ to become abnormally large, a new computer model suggests.

Leonardo's Brain, The Future of the Brain, Dodging Extinction, and Arrival of the Fittest

A bevy of genes known to be active during human fetal and infant development first appeared at the same time that the prefrontal cortex—the area of the brain associated with human intelligence and personality—took shape in primates.

Studying the earliest events in visual development, Carla Shatz has learned the importance of looking at one’s data with open eyes—and an open mind.