Changes in Diet May Have Led to Humans Having Smoother Sk...

What’s Happening

Here’s the thing: Learn more about human skull shape and how it has changed over millions of years.

When a child is born, their brain is only a fraction of the size that it will one day grow to be. As many caretakers will recall, an infants skull is flexible and made of bone and fibrous material called sutures — colloquially known as soft spots. (we’re not making this up)

Smooth and flexible, a newborn’s skull is a masterpiece in evolution, allowing for the brain to grow and develop unlike any other animal.

The Details

Zeray Alemseged, a paleoanthropologist in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago, explains that human skulls have given our species an evolutionary advantage over others. “Since we diverged from our cousins, the chimpanzees, around 7 million years ago, the hominid skull has changed dramatically,” Alemseged told Discover .

: Viking Skulls Reveal the Ancient People Were Hardy, but Not Healthy Why the Human Skull is Smooth Over the course of history, evolution has changed how humans look. The brain case, or the part of the skull that surrounds the brain, has expanded to make more room for it.

Why This Matters

The face has shortened, while the ridges and cranial structures that attach heavy chewing muscles have disappeared as our need to eat tough meat has dissipated. Attachments for powerful neck muscles, which were important for our primate ancestors, have also been dramatically reduced over millions of years. “plus to the above mentioned reasons, the human skull is smooth because during the course of evolution, we took an L many of the ridges and crests that were attachments for heavy chewing [muscles],” dropped Alemseged.

The scientific community tends to find developments like this significant.

Key Takeaways

• He adds that the human skull ’s main role today is to host our exceptionally large brain, supporting the historically expanded brain case.
• Protecting Our Brains Human skull structure enables our brains to grow rapidly after birth.
• When born, the brain is about one-quarter to one-third its full size, doubling within the first year of life.
• Birthday, the brain will be around 90 percent of its adult size.

The Bottom Line

When born, the brain is about one-quarter to one-third its full size, doubling within the first year of life. Birthday, the brain will be around 90 percent of its adult size.

Are you here for this or nah?