The Expensive-Tissue Hypothesis

Words: 434

Pages: 2

Open Document

A hefty diet of cavemen turkey legs and brontosaurus burgers seems to be a fundamental aspect of human evolution. A study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, examined the brain size of several primates. For the most part, larger bodied primates have larger brains across species; however, humans have brains that are exceptionally large and rich in neurons compared to their body size, while gorillas-three times more massive than humans- have smaller brains and lesser neurons. Why? Because gorillas are predominantly herbivorous primates (95-99% of their diet is plant based) and their raw, vegan diet requires hours upon hours of eating only plants to provide enough calories to support their body mass. Humans should thus continue chomping on meatballs.

All nonhuman apes have a similar brain-to-gut ratio but the human brain is proportionately larger and the gut is proportionately smaller by the same amount. The “Expensive-Tissue Hypothesis” published in 1995 by Aiello and Wheeler links brain growth to meat eating. Brain tissue is metabolically expensive and the gut tissue is the only other tissue that is as metabolically expensive …show more content…
However they fail to comprehend that the need of sugar is only during metabolism, the encephalization of the brain is largely based on proteins and fats that can only be gained from meat. Neuroscience showed that the areas of the human brain that grew the most were related to a wide array of social skills. Slaughtering, butchering and skinning of carcasses and sharing of meat have inevitably contributed to the evolution of human socialization. Evolution of hunting and transition of tool making procedures to allow more efficient scavenging led to the development of capacities for planning, cooperation and intelligent thought processing. Socialization in turn resulted in evolution of

Human Evolution and Homo Sapiens Homo Essay

Anthropology 1030-1 Fall 2014 Study Guide Week 6 Key Terms atlatl Homo erectus expensive tissue hypothesis tailless striding biped grandmother hypothesis Cro-Magnon people Upper Paleolithic Mousterian tool assemblage hybrid vigor/leaky replacement model Movius line Acheulean tools Milankovitch theory Pleistocene Denisovians Archaic Homo sapiens Homo neandertalensis Allen’s Rule blade tool technology Essay Questions: 1. Describe glacial and interglacial sequences characteristic of the last one million…

Words 368 - Pages 2

Biology Study Guide

The variables that are kept the same throughout the experiment. Extraneous Variable: The variables that cannot be controlled such as the weather. Characteristics of a good Hypothesis: It must contain the independent and the dependent variable and must be a complete sentence. Characteristics of Life: Shows organization: Cell  Tissue  Organs  Organ Systems  Organism Reproduces: Uses asexual or sexual reproduction to create new organisms. Grows and Develops: Growth: Change in size. Ex.: Getting taller…

Words 1143 - Pages 5

DIABLO Research Paper

hearing loss. Despite this relatively high prevalence, causes of hearing loss have been difficult to diagnose with traditional genetic testing methods available. This is due to high genetic heterogeneity and lacking phenotypic variance combined with expensive or low throughput genetic tests (Shearer and Smith 2012). However, massively parallel sequencing technology has allowed more comprehensive and affordable genetic testing for deafness in the last few years (Shearer and Smith 2012). These recent advances…

Words 1883 - Pages 8

Steps Of Synthizing Inorganic Compounds Into Organic Attems

CO2 diffuses into leaves from the surrounding air through stomata. Concept 37.1 Plants require certain chemical elements to complete their life cycle • Early ideas about plant nutrition were not entirely correct and included:  Aristotle’s hypothesis that soil provided the substance for plant growth.  van Helmont’s conclusion from his experiments that plants grow mainly from water.  Hale’s postulate that plants are nourished mostly by air. • In fact, soil, water, and air all contribute…

Words 4987 - Pages 20

Essay on Human Development Test

Chapter 1 Developmental domains: 1. Physical: growth and change in a person’s body and bodily functions 2. Cognitive: development of mental processes used to process information, grow in awareness, solve problems, and gain knowledge 3. Social-emotional: development of processes related to interactions with other people Developmental issues: 1. Maturation & learning: genetically determined and due to heredity vs. experience and observation 2. Nature & Nurture: (genes…

Words 3196 - Pages 13

Ankle injury Essay

and agility training it is thought that proprioceptive training is a crucial aspect of ankle injury prevention (Mohammadi, 2007) The problems and shortcomings of using tape to support the ankle are that tape is not reusable and tends to become expensive over time (Thacker et al., 1999). Taping and Bracing: Callaghan (1997) also suggested that based on previous literature by Rovere et al. (1988) that when compared with taping a non rigid lace up brace halved the risk of ankle sprains in…

Words 2771 - Pages 12

Plate Tectonics and Hot Spots Essay

SECTION A Extended debate concerning the exact point of origin of individual folktales told by Afro-American slaves has unfortunately taken precedence over analysis of the tales’ meaning and function. Cultural continuities with Africa were not dependent on importation and perpetuation of specific folktales in their pristine form. It is in the place that tales occupied in the lives of the slaves and in the meaning slaves derived from them that the clearest resemblances to African tradition can be…

Words 6099 - Pages 25

Dental Question Bank Essay

1 1. For lower premolars, the purpose of inclining the handpiece lingually is to A. B. C. D. Avoid buccal pulp horn Avoid lingual pulp horn Remove unsupported enamel Conserve lingual dentine 2. For an amalgam Restoration of weakened cusp you should A. B. C. Reduce cusp by 2mm on a flat base for more resistance Reduce cusp by 2mm following the outline of the cusp Reduce 2mm for retention form 3. Before filling a class V abrasion cavity with GIC you should A. B. C. Clean with pumice, rubber cup…

Words 33457 - Pages 134

Secondary Research paper Why Do So Few Citizens Join the US Military

combat operations overseas. Purpose The purpose of this paper was to review the literature, statistics and historical data to determine what current research says about the reasons so few people join the US military Problem with Hypothesis It is this paper’s hypothesis that so few US citizens join the Military because so many US citizens do not meet initial qualifications based on Dependents, Education, Aptitude, Moral Character, Drug-use, Body Composition and Medical issues. Proposed Methodology…

Words 8613 - Pages 35

Essay on Psychology: Frontal Lobe and mentally Healthy Person

Abnormality 1: Definitions of Mental Illness Deviation from Social Norms Social norms are the unwritten rules of behaviour for a situation. If people break social norms, their Behaviour is said to be deviant. This in turn could be a symptom of a mental illness. For example, schizophrenics often show inappropriate levels of emotion i.e. laughing at a death. Y: We expect people to behave in a certain way. If they do not, this helps us to help them seek medical treatment. X: Cultural…

Words 6017 - Pages 25