Human brains shrinking?

Modern-day people are 10 per cent smaller and shorter than their hunter-gatherer ancestors.

Contrary to perceived wisdom that humans have grown taller and larger,mankind is shrinking and people’s brains are also getting smaller,say experts. A team at Cambridge University says that humans are past their peak and that modern-day people are 10 per cent smaller and shorter than their hunter-gatherer ancestors,the ‘Daily Mail’ reported.

The decline,say the scientists,has happened over the past 10,000 years. They blame agriculture,with restricted diets and urbanisation compromising health and leading to the spread of disease. The theory has emerged from studies of fossilised human remains found in Africa,Europe and Asia. The earliest,from Ethiopia,date back 200,000 years,and were larger and “more robust” than their modern-day counterparts,Dr Marta Lahr,an expert in human evolution,was quoted as saying. Fossils found in Israeli caves and dating from 120,000 to 100,000 years ago,reveal people who were tall and muscular,a pattern that continued uninterrupted until

relatively recent times. An average person 10,000 years ago weighed between 12st 8lb and 13st 6lb. Today,the average is between 11st and 12st 8lb,according to their findings.

“We can see that humans have continually evolved but in body size it is not until the last 10,000 years that they have changed substantially,so the question is why this should have happened,Dr Lahr said.

The timing points to the switch from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to agriculture,which began 9,000 years ago. While farming would have made food plentiful,focussing on a smaller number of foodstuffs could have caused vitamin and mineral deficiencies that stunted growth,say the experts. In China,early farmers relied on cereals such as buckwheat,rice and maize,all of which lack niacin,a B vitamin vital for growth. However,the rise of agriculture does not explain why brains are also shrinking.

The male brain of 20,000 years ago measured 1,500 cubic centimetres. Modern man¿s brain averages just 1,350 cubic cm — a decrease equivalent to size of a tennis ball. The female brain has shrunk by about the same proportion. It doesn’t mean people are less intelligent rather they have learnt to make the best use of our resources. Dr Lahr said: “Over evolutionary time there would have been huge energy savings in making the brain smaller but more efficient – as we see today with computer processors.”

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