#487 Suzana Herculano-Houzel: The Evolution of the Human Brain, and Darwin's Descent of Man

Jun 25, 2021

Dr. Suzana Herculano-Houzel, Associate Professor at Vanderbilt University, dives into the evolution of the human brain and its surprising complexity. She debunks the myth that we have 100 billion neurons, revealing the true count is around 86 billion. The discussion challenges traditional views linking brain size to intelligence, emphasizing neuron count's significance instead. Herculano-Houzel also explores cooking's pivotal role in brain development and the importance of embracing diversity as a strength in understanding human evolution.

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INSIGHT

Human Brain and Primate Patterns

The human brain, despite its large cortex, isn't an outlier among primates.
Neuron counts reveal we fit primate brain scaling patterns, suggesting gorillas and orangutans are the outliers due to smaller brains for their body size.

INSIGHT

Cooking's Impact on Brain Evolution

Brain size is constrained by energy needs; gorillas have the largest brain they can afford given their diet.
Cooking transformed human evolution by pre-digesting food, increasing caloric intake, and reducing eating time.

INSIGHT

Human Brain Cell Counts

The human brain has around 86 billion neurons, not the commonly cited 100 billion.
The ratio of glial cells to neurons is approximately 1:1, contrary to previous beliefs.

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Dr. Suzana Herculano-Houzel is Associate Professor of Psychology and Associate Director for Communications at Vanderbilt Brain Institute at Vanderbilt University. She is interested in comparative neuroanatomy, cellular composition of brains, brain morphology, brain evolution, metabolic cost of body and brain, sleep requirement across species, feeding time, and really interested in how all of these are tied together. She writes about neuroscience and science in general for the public. She is the author of The Human Advantage: A New Understanding of How Our Brain Became Remarkable (MIT Press, 2016).

In this episode, we focus on The Human Advantage, and also on a chapter of the edited book, A Most Interesting Problem: What Darwin’s Descent of Man Got Right and Wrong about Human Evolution. We debunk many myths about the human brain, focusing on things like its size, its number of cells, its organization, its metabolic cost, its functions, and how we compare to other species. We also make reference to some of the ideas Darwin exposed on The Descent of Man, and what he got right and wrong.

This interview is part of a short series I am doing on the 150th anniversary of Darwin’s Descent of Man.

A HUGE THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS/SUPPORTERS: KARIN LIETZCKE, ANN BLANCHETTE, PER HELGE LARSEN, LAU GUERREIRO, JERRY MULLER, HANS FREDRIK SUNDE, BERNARDO SEIXAS, HERBERT GINTIS, RUTGER VOS, RICARDO VLADIMIRO, CRAIG HEALY, OLAF ALEX, PHILIP KURIAN, JONATHAN VISSER, JAKOB KLINKBY, ADAM KESSEL, MATTHEW WHITINGBIRD, ARNAUD WOLFF, TIM HOLLOSY, HENRIK AHLENIUS, JOHN CONNORS, PAULINA BARREN, FILIP FORS CONNOLLY, DAN DEMETRIOU, ROBERT WINDHAGER, RUI INACIO, ARTHUR KOH, ZOOP, MARCO NEVES, COLIN HOLBROOK, SUSAN PINKER, THOMAS TRUMBLE, PABLO SANTURBANO, SIMON COLUMBUS, PHIL KAVANAGH, JORGE ESPINHA, CORY CLARK, MARK BLYTH, ROBERTO INGUANZO, MIKKEL STORMYR, ERIC NEURMANN, SAMUEL ANDREEFF, FRANCIS FORDE, TIAGO NUNES, BERNARD HUGUENEY, ALEXANDER DANNBAUER, OMARI HICKSON, FERGAL CUSSEN, YEVHEN BODRENKO, HAL HERZOG, NUNO MACHADO, DON ROSS, JONATHAN LEIBRANT, JOÃO LINHARES, OZLEM BULUT, NATHAN NGUYEN, STANTON T, SAMUEL CORREA, ERIK HAINES, MARK SMITH, J.W., JOÃO EIRA, TOM HUMMEL, SARDUS FRANCE, DAVID SLOAN WILSON, YACILA DEZA-ARAUJO, IDAN SOLON, ROMAIN ROCH, DMITRY GRIGORYEV, TOM ROTH, DIEGO LONDOÑO CORREA, YANICK PUNTER, ADANER USMANI, CHARLOTTE BLEASE, MIRAN B, NICOLE BARBARO, ADAM HUNT, PAWEL OSTASZEWSKI, MAX BEILBY, AL ORTIZ, NELLEKE BAK, KATHRINE AND PATRICK TOBIN, GUY MADISON, GARY G HELLMANN, SAIMA AFZAL, ADRIAN JAEGGI, AND NICK GOLDEN!

A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PRODUCERS, YZAR WEHBE, JIM FRANK, ŁUKASZ STAFINIAK, IAN GILLIGAN, SERGIU CODREANU, LUIS CAYETANO, TOM VANEGDOM, CURTIS DIXON, BENEDIKT MUELLER, VEGA GIDEY, AND NIRUBAN BALACHANDRAN!

AND TO MY EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS, MICHAL RUSIECKI, ROSEY, JAMES PRATT, AND MATTHEW LAVENDER!