THE HUMAN ADVANTAGE / A NEW UNDERSTANDING OF HOW OUR BRAIN BECAME REMARKABLE

Humans are awesome. Our brains are gigantic, seven times larger than they should be for the size of our bodies. The human brain uses 25% of all the energy the body requires each day. And it became enormous in a very short amount of time in evolution, allowing us t o leave our cousins, the great apes, behind. So the human brain is special, right? Wrong, according to Suzana Herculano-Houzel. Huma ns have developed cognitive abilities that outstrip those of all other animals, but not because we are evolutionary outliers.