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Also amazing with birds is how effectively they've evolved intelligence with a small brain https://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-06-term-bird-brain.html https://

by __s 1y ago

Also amazing with birds is how effectively they've evolved intelligence with a small brain https://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-06-term-bird-brain.html https://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-06-term-bird-brain.html

sitkack 1y ago
We overfocus on brain volume, when we should be calculating the number of neurons and neuron size varies wildly. I can't find the original video, but Suzana Herculano-Houzel developed a technique to measure total neuron counts by liquefying the brain and then counting the cell nucleus density / volume. WSU Master Class: Big Brains, Small Brains with Suzana Herculano-Houzel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDM3TcfGoBY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDM3TcfGoBY (nice short popsci intro) The woman who turns brains into soup: Suzana Herculano-Houzel https://youtu.be/d2Uhv0_Ji1k?t=362 https://youtu.be/d2Uhv0_Ji1k?t=362 (talks about racoon and bird brains) https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2017/09/07/brainiac-with-her-innovative-brain-soup-suzana-herculano-houzel-is-changing-neuroscience-one-species-at-a-time/ https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2017/09/07/brainiac-with-her-inn... https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=Suzana%20Herculano-Houzel%20&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... This paper is really fun, "Brains matter, bodies maybe not: the case for examining neuron numbers irrespective of body size" https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Brains-matter%2C-bodies-maybe-not%3A-the-case-for-of-Herculano%E2%80%90Houzel/ea34224601c81828afeefc29522d98375233d355 https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Brains-matter%2C-bodie...
pragma_x 1y ago
It's something to marvel at, really. Birds _needed_ to evolve super efficient brains due to all the constraints that flight puts on the organism; they have to be more efficient by weight as well as by size. Meanwhile, being earthbound like you or I lets our DNA get away with a lot more slop.

by __s 1y ago

sitkack 1y ago

We overfocus on brain volume, when we should be calculating the number of neurons and neuron size varies wildly. I can't find the original video, but Suzana Herculano-Houzel developed a technique to measure total neuron counts by liquefying the brain and then counting the cell nucleus density / volume. WSU Master Class: Big Brains, Small Brains with Suzana Herculano-Houzel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDM3TcfGoBY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDM3TcfGoBY (nice short popsci intro) The woman who turns brains into soup: Suzana Herculano-Houzel https://youtu.be/d2Uhv0_Ji1k?t=362 https://youtu.be/d2Uhv0_Ji1k?t=362 (talks about racoon and bird brains) https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2017/09/07/brainiac-with-her-innovative-brain-soup-suzana-herculano-houzel-is-changing-neuroscience-one-species-at-a-time/ https://news.vanderbilt.edu/2017/09/07/brainiac-with-her-inn... https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=Suzana%20Herculano-Houzel%20&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... This paper is really fun, "Brains matter, bodies maybe not: the case for examining neuron numbers irrespective of body size" https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Brains-matter%2C-bodies-maybe-not%3A-the-case-for-of-Herculano%E2%80%90Houzel/ea34224601c81828afeefc29522d98375233d355 https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Brains-matter%2C-bodie...

pragma_x 1y ago

It's something to marvel at, really. Birds _needed_ to evolve super efficient brains due to all the constraints that flight puts on the organism; they have to be more efficient by weight as well as by size. Meanwhile, being earthbound like you or I lets our DNA get away with a lot more slop.