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Author: Shuichi Shigeno Publisher: Springer ISBN: 4431564691 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 438
Book Description
This book presents a new, detailed examination that explains how elegant brains have been shaped in evolution. It consists of 19 chapters written by academic professionals in neuroscience, opening with the origin of single-celled creatures and then introducing primordial types in invertebrates with the great abundance of the brains of vertebrates. Important topics are provided in a timely manner, because novel techniques emerged rapidly—as seen, for examples, in the next-generation sequencers and omics approaches. With the explosion of big data, neural-related genes and molecules is now on the radar. In fact, Europe’s big science and technology projects, a €1 billion plan called the Human Brain Project and the Blue Brain Project to understand mammalian brain networks, have been launched in recent years. Furthermore, with the rise of recently advanced artificial intelligence, there is great enthusiasm for understanding the evolution of neural networks. The views from brain evolution in nature provide an essential opportunity to generate ideas for novel neuron- and brain-inspired computation. The ambition behind this book is that it will stimulate young scientists who seek a deeper understanding in order to find the basic principles shaping brains that provided higher cognitive functions in the course of evolution.
Author: Shuichi Shigeno Publisher: Springer ISBN: 4431564691 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 438
Book Description
This book presents a new, detailed examination that explains how elegant brains have been shaped in evolution. It consists of 19 chapters written by academic professionals in neuroscience, opening with the origin of single-celled creatures and then introducing primordial types in invertebrates with the great abundance of the brains of vertebrates. Important topics are provided in a timely manner, because novel techniques emerged rapidly—as seen, for examples, in the next-generation sequencers and omics approaches. With the explosion of big data, neural-related genes and molecules is now on the radar. In fact, Europe’s big science and technology projects, a €1 billion plan called the Human Brain Project and the Blue Brain Project to understand mammalian brain networks, have been launched in recent years. Furthermore, with the rise of recently advanced artificial intelligence, there is great enthusiasm for understanding the evolution of neural networks. The views from brain evolution in nature provide an essential opportunity to generate ideas for novel neuron- and brain-inspired computation. The ambition behind this book is that it will stimulate young scientists who seek a deeper understanding in order to find the basic principles shaping brains that provided higher cognitive functions in the course of evolution.
Author: Stephen Cunnane Publisher: John Wiley & Sons ISBN: 9780470609873 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 232
Book Description
The evolution of the human brain and cognitive ability is one of the central themes of physical/biological anthropology. This book discusses the emergence of human cognition at a conceptual level, describing it as a process of long adaptive stasis interrupted by short periods of cognitive advance. These advances were not linear and directed, but were acquired indirectly as part of changing human behaviors, in other words through the process of exaptation (acquisition of a function for which it was not originally selected). Based on studies of the modem human brain, certain prerequisites were needed for the development of the early brain and associated cognitive advances. This book documents the energy and nutrient constraints of the modern brain, highlighting the significant role of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA) in brain development and maintenance. Crawford provides further emphasis for the role of essential fatty acids, in particular DHA, in brain development, by discussing the evolution of the eye and neural systems. This is an ideal book for Graduate students, post docs, research scientists in Physical/Biological Anthropology, Human Biology, Archaeology, Nutrition, Cognitive Science, Neurosciences. It is also an excellent selection for a grad student discussion seminar.
Author: John S. Allen Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 0674053494 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 351
Book Description
Though we have other distinguishing characteristics (walking on two legs, for instance, and relative hairlessness), the brain and the behavior it produces are what truly set us apart from the other apes and primates. And how this three-pound organ composed of water, fat, and protein turned a mammal species into the dominant animal on earth today is the story John S. Allen seeks to tell. Adopting what he calls a “bottom-up” approach to the evolution of human behavior, Allen considers the brain as a biological organ; a collection of genes, cells, and tissues that grows, eats, and ages, and is subject to the direct effects of natural selection and the phylogenetic constraints of its ancestry. An exploration of the evolution of this critical organ based on recent work in paleoanthropology, brain anatomy and neuroimaging, molecular genetics, life history theory, and related fields, his book shows us the brain as a product of the contexts in which it evolved: phylogenetic, somatic, genetic, ecological, demographic, and ultimately, cultural-linguistic. Throughout, Allen focuses on the foundations of brain evolution rather than the evolution of behavior or cognition. This perspective demonstrates how, just as some aspects of our behavior emerge in unexpected ways from the development of certain cognitive capacities, a more nuanced understanding of behavioral evolution might develop from a clearer picture of brain evolution.
Author: Bret Stetka Publisher: Timber Press ISBN: 1604699884 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 273
Book Description
“A History of the Human Brain is a unique, enlightening, and provocative account of the most significant question we can ask about ourselves.” —Richard Wrangham, author of The Goodness Paradox Just 125,000 years ago, humanity was on a path to extinction, until a dramatic shift occurred. We used our mental abilities to navigate new terrain and changing climates. We hunted, foraged, tracked tides, shucked oysters—anything we could do to survive. Before long, our species had pulled itself back from the brink and was on more stable ground. What saved us? The human brain—and its evolutionary journey is unlike any other. In A History of the Human Brain, Bret Stetka takes us on this far-reaching journey, explaining exactly how our most mysterious organ developed. From the brain’s improbable, watery beginnings to the marvel that sits in the head of Home sapiens today, Stetka covers an astonishing progression, even tackling future brainy frontiers such as epigenetics and CRISPR. Clearly and expertly told, this intriguing account is the story of who we are. By examining the history of the brain, we can begin to piece together what it truly means to be human.
Author: National Academy of Sciences Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309045290 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 195
Book Description
The brain ... There is no other part of the human anatomy that is so intriguing. How does it develop and function and why does it sometimes, tragically, degenerate? The answers are complex. In Discovering the Brain, science writer Sandra Ackerman cuts through the complexity to bring this vital topic to the public. The 1990s were declared the "Decade of the Brain" by former President Bush, and the neuroscience community responded with a host of new investigations and conferences. Discovering the Brain is based on the Institute of Medicine conference, Decade of the Brain: Frontiers in Neuroscience and Brain Research. Discovering the Brain is a "field guide" to the brainâ€"an easy-to-read discussion of the brain's physical structure and where functions such as language and music appreciation lie. Ackerman examines: How electrical and chemical signals are conveyed in the brain. The mechanisms by which we see, hear, think, and pay attentionâ€"and how a "gut feeling" actually originates in the brain. Learning and memory retention, including parallels to computer memory and what they might tell us about our own mental capacity. Development of the brain throughout the life span, with a look at the aging brain. Ackerman provides an enlightening chapter on the connection between the brain's physical condition and various mental disorders and notes what progress can realistically be made toward the prevention and treatment of stroke and other ailments. Finally, she explores the potential for major advances during the "Decade of the Brain," with a look at medical imaging techniquesâ€"what various technologies can and cannot tell usâ€"and how the public and private sectors can contribute to continued advances in neuroscience. This highly readable volume will provide the public and policymakersâ€"and many scientists as wellâ€"with a helpful guide to understanding the many discoveries that are sure to be announced throughout the "Decade of the Brain."
Author: Martine Hahn Publisher: Elsevier ISBN: 0323151531 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 412
Book Description
Development and Evolution of Brain Size: Behavioral Implications contains the proceedings of a symposium entitled ""Development and Evolution of Brain Size: Behavioral Implications,"" held at William Paterson College in Wayne, New Jersey, in April 1978. The papers explore the relationship between evolution and development and its implications for brain size and behavior. This book is comprised of 18 chapters and begins with an overview of the brain-behavior relationship, with emphasis on the importance of brain size for behavior; the effects of genetic selection for brain size on brain substructures and behavior; and whether genetic and environmental manipulations of brain size have similar consequences. The next two chapters explain evolutionary theory and the evolution of the human brain as well as diversity in brain size. A general model for brain evolution that offers some synthetic possibilities for approaching the questions of brain evolution, size, allometry, and reorganization is then described. The correlation between cerebral indices and behavioral differences is also discussed, along with biochemical correlates of selective breeding for brain size. The results of an experiment that assessed the effects of early undernutrition on brain and behavior of developing mice are presented. This monograph should be of interest to students and practitioners in a wide range of disciplines, including evolutionary biology and clinical psychology.
Author: David J. Linden Publisher: Harvard University Press ISBN: 0674076613 Category : Medical Languages : en Pages : 361
Book Description
You've probably seen it before: a human brain dramatically lit from the side, the camera circling it like a helicopter shot of Stonehenge, and a modulated baritone voice exalting the brain's elegant design in reverent tones. To which this book says: Pure nonsense. In a work at once deeply learned and wonderfully accessible, the neuroscientist David Linden counters the widespread assumption that the brain is a paragon of design--and in its place gives us a compelling explanation of how the brain's serendipitous evolution has resulted in nothing short of our humanity. A guide to the strange and often illogical world of neural function, The Accidental Mind shows how the brain is not an optimized, general-purpose problem-solving machine, but rather a weird agglomeration of ad-hoc solutions that have been piled on through millions of years of evolutionary history. Moreover, Linden tells us how the constraints of evolved brain design have ultimately led to almost every transcendent human foible: our long childhoods, our extensive memory capacity, our search for love and long-term relationships, our need to create compelling narrative, and, ultimately, the universal cultural impulse to create both religious and scientific explanations. With forays into evolutionary biology, this analysis of mental function answers some of our most common questions about how we've come to be who we are.
Author: Adrian Bejan Publisher: Anchor ISBN: 0307744345 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 306
Book Description
In this groundbreaking book, Adrian Bejan takes the recurring patterns in nature—trees, tributaries, air passages, neural networks, and lightning bolts—and reveals how a single principle of physics, the constructal law, accounts for the evolution of these and many other designs in our world. Everything—from biological life to inanimate systems—generates shape and structure and evolves in a sequence of ever-improving designs in order to facilitate flow. River basins, cardiovascular systems, and bolts of lightning are very efficient flow systems to move a current—of water, blood, or electricity. Likewise, the more complex architecture of animals evolve to cover greater distance per unit of useful energy, or increase their flow across the land. Such designs also appear in human organizations, like the hierarchical “flowcharts” or reporting structures in corporations and political bodies. All are governed by the same principle, known as the constructal law, and configure and reconfigure themselves over time to flow more efficiently. Written in an easy style that achieves clarity without sacrificing complexity, Design in Nature is a paradigm-shifting book that will fundamentally transform our understanding of the world around us.
Author: National Research Council Publisher: National Academies Press ISBN: 0309069882 Category : Social Science Languages : en Pages : 610
Book Description
How we raise young children is one of today's most highly personalized and sharply politicized issues, in part because each of us can claim some level of "expertise." The debate has intensified as discoveries about our development-in the womb and in the first months and years-have reached the popular media. How can we use our burgeoning knowledge to assure the well-being of all young children, for their own sake as well as for the sake of our nation? Drawing from new findings, this book presents important conclusions about nature-versus-nurture, the impact of being born into a working family, the effect of politics on programs for children, the costs and benefits of intervention, and other issues. The committee issues a series of challenges to decision makers regarding the quality of child care, issues of racial and ethnic diversity, the integration of children's cognitive and emotional development, and more. Authoritative yet accessible, From Neurons to Neighborhoods presents the evidence about "brain wiring" and how kids learn to speak, think, and regulate their behavior. It examines the effect of the climate-family, child care, community-within which the child grows.
Author: Shuichi Shigeno
Author: Shuichi Shigeno
Author: Greg Braden
Author: Stephen Cunnane
Author: John S. Allen
Author: Bret Stetka
Author: National Academy of Sciences
Author: Martine Hahn
Author: David J. Linden
Author: Adrian Bejan
Author: National Research Council